Mind Over Matter
by Hunger4Righteousness
Summary: The death of a main character leads to an unusual chain of events and discoveries. Angsty. Rating changed to M for portions of chapter 6.
1. Chapter 1

"Please, Minion… just one more time."

He knew it wouldn't be 'just one more time' though. She had said that since the beginning, even knowing how much it bothered him. But he couldn't deny her the one small measure of comfort they had available either, no matter how wrong it seemed to drag out the letting go that inevitably had to occur. He glanced around, not wanting little Jack to see, and turned the watch's face.

Roxanne looked at him as she always did. Her face a fragile mask of displaced hope and affection that disturbed him deeply and made him kick himself for giving in again. _This is not helping her_. But he tried to smile the way she would want him to, that smile that didn't belong to him, and seeing it she moved closer with a trembling out-stretched hand to touch the face he now displayed. Fingertips reached out to trail along the blue skin with measured slowness, while her eyes darted here and there, trying to drink it all in before the charade had to end again. Her lips formed a silent word, his name.

He knew how much she was trying to hold back her reaction to seeing him again – just right there, right before her, under her hands – but completely out of reach. As she gave in yet again - she always did even when she promised she wouldn't - and her arms stole around him, almost as though they acted against her will, her face crumpled into tears and a stifled sob. He fought with himself as he always did before returning her embrace. _Why do I let her do this?_ Briefly he hugged her, then gently pushed her away again, seeing the tears fill up sparkling in her eyes and spill over as she pressed the back of her fingers to her mouth and watched the brightness of the image swell and glow before fading away. And Minion stood before her again, nearly as desolate as she was herself.

"I'm sorry." She shook her head and closed her eyes, disregarding the tears that streamed down her cheeks unchecked. "I miss him… so… so much." Her pain stretched her features tight, a visible agony he was sure outstripped his own even though he had loved just as deeply in his own way. "Is it ever going to stop hurting?" The plea ended in a squeak, and then she tried to breathe more evenly, adding in a broken whisper, "I can't take this."

"You have to," he urged, feeling no conviction in his own advice. "Jack needs you."

"Just one more time. A little longer."

He closed his eyes tightly, hardly able to bear the pressure of either acceding to or denying her request. "Ms Ritchi…"

"Please! It's all I have left!"

His metal frame seemed to slump in defeat as he sadly reached for his wrist again, hearing the click as he swiveled the device to display what she was so desperate for, settling for a deception because she couldn't live with the truth. He couldn't look at her this time as she moved more quickly to embrace the image.

"Daddy?"

Startled, they both looked over to see the small boy watching, wide-eyed, confusion and shock and the barest beginning of hope struggling across his face before the fish jerked the dial and turned off the disguise again.

"Oh! No… no, Jack. It's… it's just Minion. He was just… playing a game with me."

Calling it a game sounded like a cruel way to excuse what he'd seen, even to her own ears, and her heart sank as she watched her son's little baby face turn stony blank before he ran away again.

"Oh, shit," she breathed, realizing how wrong it had been for him to see. How damaging. "Damnit…."

"No more of this," Minion gruffly stated, deeply shaken for the child whose blue skin was the only real and tangible reminder they had left of what was lost. "No more." He walked to the doorway. "I'll go… talk to him and try to explain."

Roxanne watched him go, disappointed in herself, reeling under the weight of regret that suddenly fell on her shoulders. How could she have been so selfish and possibly hurt her son even more? Her throat felt tight as she walked to the black leather chair and sat down, drawing the cape they always left draped over the back down around her shoulders, wrapping herself close and tight as if she might be able to imagine his arms around her better that way. She was so tired of crying, but she couldn't seem to stop. Tears would flow at the mere thought of him, and he had not been far from her thoughts at any time in the past week, even in sleep.

Paged to the hospital, she'd just left Jack with a sitter and was about to spend the day shopping. At first it hadn't occurred to her anything might be wrong. As a lead reporter she was paged to a lot of places, even when she was supposed to be having a day off if it meant covering one of Megamind's stories, her exclusive territory. But when she arrived and saw Wayne in the hallway… head bowed, looking more ashen than the dust he was covered in could account for… he glanced at her, almost ashamed as he ran a hand through his hair caked with dirt… and the blood smeared across his chest, on his hands… A cold terror gripped her then. And it hadn't yet let go. Hurrying into the room, she saw Minion standing over a gurney, blocking the sight of most of it.

The nightmare-like quality of her memories started then, with that first look into the emergency room. She could see immediately they had already given up on the mangled body… left it alone. The doctors and nurses seemed to be slowly retreating, apologetically silent as she approached. She tried to hurry forward but couldn't seem to go fast enough, struggling through a heavy miasma that caught at her legs, trying to call out for help… _No! Don't give up on him!_ ... She choked on the thick words as they caught in her throat, strangling her. Minion wouldn't look at her, his metal hands flat on the table in front of him as he wept and shook in his dome.

Even her memory of the sound was all wrong. It seemed like she should have been screaming, maybe she had been, but all she could remember was the too loud thud of her heartbeat in her ears and muffled voices echoing incoherently as someone tried to stop her from throwing herself onto the still and bloody body, grabbing the torn clothing, shaking him… _Wake up! Wake… up…_

Her fists gripped the cape tighter, nails digging into her arms through the fine leather as she drew her legs up to her chest. The nightmare would never end. He would never wake up and neither would she. Crushed and torn, there hadn't been enough of his smooth blue skin intact on his head to let her run a hand over it one last time. As the inescapable truth sunk in, she felt an overwhelming urge to put him back together, felt strangely embarrassed for him, didn't want anyone to see him this way. Gingerly lifting a flap of skin back into place with a shaking finger, she herself reconnected the sleek stripe that graced his chin as her mouth twisted into a wobbling mess of moaning denial. It wasn't until she'd seen herself in a mirror later that she realized she had his blood all over her face from burying her head on his chest, sobbing, angry, in so much pain she felt like she'd been crushed under the building with him. She wished she had been.

But where would that leave Jack?

Resting her elbow on the arm of the chair, she leaned her head on her hand, knees falling sideways. How many times had he held her in this chair? Teasing and laughing and spinning. Soothing her there on his lap when she'd had morning sickness that lasted all day while he kept up his work on the keyboard one-handed. Holding her tightly in thankful silence after a near miss with some lunatic. Kissing her slowly, sweetly, as his hands roamed up and down her back, a prelude to making love. She realized her face was aching, and her fingers moved to massage the wrinkles between her brows from the frowning that never ended. "God, Megs… I miss you so much." Feeling physically sick, she curled up tighter. He was all around her, everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Sometimes she wanted to end her pain, but Jack was the thread that kept her tethered to Earth from moment to moment, wishing time would hurry and pass to ease the hurt, but never wanting to forget. How could she remember and not hurt?

"I can't do this. I can't do this without you." Chest heaving so deeply it felt like it was sinking to her navel before expanding again, she cursed herself, feeling the tears start to sting in her eyes again as her face crumpled in another round of agony. _How much more do I have to cry? _Bowing her head, she rubbed her eyes on the cape. Sometimes she let it come. This time she'd fight it. She thought of him being in everything that surrounded her. Everything within sight had been thought up by him, made by him, used by him… and they were only shells now. Empty things that left her empty. But surely such a bright light, that energy and intelligence and love that was _him_, couldn't be extinguished entirely by death. _Where are you? You can't just be gone._

C:\ dwnld to nn_

The command popped up in small, green blinking letters on one blank screen at the console, catching her eye and making her do a double-take. _Download. Download to… nn? What's nn? _She had never seen the message before, and the way it stood alone on the black screen was striking, out of place. Usually Megamind's work was complex, integrated into so many pages of text, she didn't bother trying to understand. This looked more like a computerized Post-It note. Maybe Minion knew. She went to find him.

* * *

><p>"So you don't know what nn is either?"<p>

"No," he answered, perplexed. "I have no idea." Tapping into the system, he informed her, "This is scheduled to automatically come up every week. It is a kind of reminder, I think. He was supposed to download something weekly."

"What though?"

"I don't know. Maybe it was a collection of some kind? Something he added to regularly and was backing up so he wouldn't lose it?"

"Like ideas? Plans?"

"Yeah, could be." Minion pondered. "You know he liked to jot his ideas on paper, but maybe he'd decided to make a record to keep in the computer in case something happened to all those notes hanging up everywhere." One swift breeze or attack on the Lair could wipe out a massive amount of work.

Roxanne was hoping for more. "Maybe he was keeping a diary. Or a log of some kind." She wanted to see it, whatever it was. It was part of him, and she wanted to know where every little part and parcel was. "We have to figure out what nn is. Can you find where it is? Tap into it?"

After a pause, Minion answered, "First of all, it's huge. In fact it's so big, it can't be here. This system isn't that big." He sounded confused, and Roxanne was even more so. _Not here? Where would it be then?_ Minion continued, "It's password protected too."

They settled into trying passwords, all kinds of passwords, passing from excitement to weariness as each one failed. "Well, look. What did you mean, it's not here? Nn isn't on this computer?"

"We don't have a system that large at all that I know of. I mean, this is enormous. It has to be a network."

"Where is it then?"

Minion sat shaking his head. How could he not have known about this huge project? And what was it? Surely his boss would not entrust information he had protected with some kind of password to a system outside the Lair. So where was it?

"We have old CPU's and stuff in storage in the basement. Things he outgrew or replaced. Surely he didn't use them."

"Let's go see." From the eagerness in her voice, he knew Roxanne was grasping at straws. The old computers didn't have nearly enough memory to hold nn even if they were all linked together, but they would go look anyway. He wasn't sure she'd ever seen the holding areas in the basement. There had been no reason to go down there among the old dinosaurs. In fact he should probably consider clearing it all out.

As they descended into the bowels of the Lair, it struck Minion that the atmosphere was not the way he remembered – damp and clammy – it was now on climate control of some kind. _Why would he do that? Nothing should even be running down here anyway._ Then he saw the brand new equipment, sleek and shining hardware. A lot of it. It filled much of the dark empty space that sprawled hidden below the old power plant. _What has he been up to? _Another black chair, a twin of the signature leather throne upstairs, sat empty before a single large screen, blank except for a blinking prompt.

"Minion, this stuff isn't old."

"I know. I know," he answered distractedly. "I didn't know anything about this." Sitting in the chair, he pulled out a keyboard tray and typed in 'Megamind'. Nothing happened.

Roxanne was looking around. "We tried 'Jack'?"

"Yeah, a bunch of times."

Megamind had chosen the baby's name, and she was surprised. "Why Jack?"

He smiled mysteriously. "The name Jack has a long and illustrious history! He was the guy who jumped over a candle stick just to prove he could. Built a house. Climbed a beanstalk and battled a giant! He was brave and foolhardy and determined not to listen to anybody. A guy I could relate to!" She laughed at his allusions to old nursery rhymes and fairy tales. "I always figured Jack must be someone pretty special to have done all that and have been remembered down through the ages. When we read those old stories as kids, Minion and I always admired Jack." So they had named the baby Jack.

_He's done this in secret... hoping we'd find it someday? Why wait though? Was it a surprise for later? Maybe for when Jack was older?_ She expressed her thoughts to Minion, and he agreed the secrecy seemed to indicate its discovery was meant to be delayed. They began putting in combinations of nursery rhymes, patterns of words and phrases, convinced it had to be something for Megamind's son's future. But nothing worked. Time passed. Worn out, eventually Roxanne took the seat again and sat dejected and slumping. _You made it too hard! We can't even get in. Megs… I need this. Help me…_

She racked her brain again for old stories about Jack as Minion began to gently suggest they quit for now. Being worn out wasn't going to help them think. They could start fresh tomorrow. She only half listened, dead tired but determined not to give up yet. They had tried everything but the most obvious rhyme of all, but that one wasn't for their son. "Jack got the girl, too," Megamind had teased her as he wrapped an arm around her and put a hand to the barely swollen bump at her belly.

"Well, in that case maybe you're projecting _yourself_ onto Jack, not our baby."

"I hope he'll be like me," he admitted unashamedly. "And I hope he has someone to love someday," he murmured into her hair before she turned her face to his for a kiss.

"I hope so too."

Without confidence she slowly tapped in 'J-I-L-L' and hit enter… and the screen turned blue. She sat up. "Minion!" It wasn't for Jack. It was for her.

He whirled around and leaned closer as letters began to type themselves into words across the screen.

_Hello, Minion.__

Roxanne's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh my gosh, what is this?"

_Roxanne… hello, sweetheart.__

"I have no idea," Minion answered slowly, his eyes wide. "Can it hear us?"

_Yes, I can. And I'm not an it.__

"Megamind…?" She tentatively touched the screen, as though she could reach through it to the person who seemed to be on the other side. "What is this?"

_Welcome to my neural net. This is me. Incredibly handsome, formerly criminal genius, and blah, blah, you know the drill.__

Almost too awed to react, she couldn't quite believe the answers coming up on the screen were actually in response to what she and Minion were saying. "You can hear us… But we can't hear you."

_Turn on the sound.__

Minion was so flustered he fiddled with several things before finding the volume. "There."

"Can you hear me now?"

Roxanne gasped at hearing the voice she loved and thought she would never hear again except through the disguise generator. His words appeared typed on the screen as well. Minion answered for them both. "Yes, Sir! We can hear you! What… what is all this?"

"I told you. It's my neural net. I've been downloading my personality, memories, ideas – my brain, basically – into this network weekly for quite a while now." The voice seemed to be listening. "Are you still there, Roxanne?"

"…yes…" she breathed, pale and shaken.

"But why?" Minion questioned.

The familiar voice paused before answering solemnly, "Just for this occasion." Silence weighed heavily over them all before he asked. "How did I die?"

Roxanne began to cry.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a simple demolition job that had become a rescue, even though no force of evil had been present to threaten anyone. A condemned building in an older, crowded neighborhood downtown had unexpectedly shifted on its foundation and become so unstable people noticed it raining small showers of rubble and dust, threatening to collapse on a school next to it. The area was cordoned off to prevent injury to passersby, but it needed to come down immediately. The city's hero and defender had proven to be an all around useful guy, and they had called him in to deal with the dangerous situation when expert demo crews expressed serious doubts about their ability to control the collapse without damage to the school. He accepted the commission as usual, but just as the work had begun that fateful morning a brainbot reported movement detected inside the building. Then he spotted a face. A homeless squatter fearfully peeking out from a window of the structure as it was already beginning to crumble. The old woman didn't want to leave what she considered to be her home, secreting herself away in crannies only she knew about when the final inspections had been done. Watching the children next door through the dirty panes of glass each day, chuckling and nodding at hazy memories of years gone by, was the only joy she had anymore in a life that had fallen into desolation much like the building she occupied. Why did they have to make her move? She was happy there.

Although aware of the risk, he hadn't given a second thought to commanding the brainbot crew to stabilize and hold up the rapidly failing structure while he ducked inside. But she had been afraid of him and scurried off to hide again. Patiently he tried to coax her to come out, explaining she was in danger, knowing in the back of his mind it was becoming critical, it was taking too long, unwilling to leave her behind… and then the building began to fall apart and come down. The bots had been able to do nothing more than keep it contained in as small an area as possible, just as they'd been instructed. But that also concentrated the debris onto the two people still inside. Frantically Minion had tried to reach his friend and, realizing he couldn't, put in an emergency call to Wayne, formerly Metro Man, who was there in a flash.

"He found you. And her. But it was too late," Minion finished sadly.

The screen was blank for a moment before the green glowing letters began to form words again. "So I did die a hero."

"Of course you did," Roxanne answered, surprised into breaking her silence.

"Well, that's good. I mean… not good that I _died_, but it's a better way to go than, you know, being snuffed out in a car wreck or some other pointless accident."

"Pointless! _She_ was pointless! You had to lose your life for one stupid homeless woman no one would miss!" she cried out with sudden bitterness. _I wish he'd let her just die_.

"Ms Ritchi…" Minion warned. He didn't like to hear her making it sound like Megamind's death was his own fault, even though he understood her grief. It made one nearly irrational at times. But his reaction was checked by a more understanding voice.

"Roxanne… I know you're angry, but you don't mean that," he gently chided. "You know what we've always said." In the course of taking up his new role for the city, they'd often had discussions on weighty philosophical subjects of justice, and they both agreed that every life had value. Trying to decide who was worth saving or who wasn't was the antithesis of being a hero. Every life had possibilities. Possibilities were infinite, and lives were interconnected. As soon as you let yourself begin to make judgment calls of who was worthy of living and who wasn't, you were no better than Hitler. "I couldn't have left her behind."

With a sigh, she conceded, "I know." Already sorry for what she'd blurted out, she turned the chair a little. "I know you wouldn't have. But now… _we're_ the ones left behind. Your son doesn't have a father, and the city doesn't have a defender. … and I don't have you." Could he hear the shaking in her voice? The evidence of how much the pain has stripped away all her defenses? Ideals were little comfort now.

"But you do, Roxanne. I'm still here."

_He is still here. We can talk to him. This isn't some prerecorded message_. The knowledge was taking time to sink in. She smiled weakly. "We should have guessed you'd pull off something spectacular."

The bodiless voice chuckled. "You know me! I never was going to 'go gentle into that good night'."

They talked on and on despite the late hour. Weary from the emotional upheaval, Roxanne was fighting fatigue but could not pull herself away. _What if I go to bed and wake up to find this is all just a dream?_ "Brainbots." Three floating orbs came to her call. "Go get me the pillow and blankets from my bed."

"Honey, you can't sleep down here," came the concerned voice. "The floor is cold and hard, and I've fallen asleep often enough in that chair to know you won't rest well there either."

She shook her head. "I'm not leaving. I want to stay with you." Finally Minion called for a cot for her too, knowing she would not be deterred.

"I'm not going anywhere. I promise. In the morning, I'll still be here waiting for you."

"Megs… I've missed you so much." Her lips quivered, but she was determined not to cry. Why cry? He was here now. "You have no idea."

Somehow the silence conveyed sadness. "But I do. I still have emotions, Roxanne. And I'm sorry I've left you so unhappy."

The quiver became a wobble before she could get it under control. Leaning forward in her seat, she gently grasped the edges of the screen, thinking how funny it was that one naturally associated a monitor with a face. "I can't believe you're really in there." Being able to hear and talk to him was light years better than trying to accept him being gone entirely, but she still felt such an overwhelming sense of loss. "And I'm so glad you did this." She continued haltingly, not wanting to sound ungrateful. "But I miss you… I love you…" Minion stood quietly listening to them. He knew better than to interrupt by excusing himself or disrupt the moment by trying to sneak out.

"I love you, Roxanne."

Hearing it, she closed her eyes as her fingers stroked down the sides of the machine. The flat, cool surface could not satisfy her longing for the rest of him. "Will we ever get you out of there? I mean, will you always have to be… down here? Stuck in this... network?"

"That's a problem I've been working on for a long time. And it's proven to be much more complicated than I expected." The computer registered a sigh even though he had no lungs to take the breath that expressed his frustration. "A brain is an amazing thing, I've learned. We all know that, but it is even more so than we realize. You can see what it's taken just to contain me in mechanical form. I hadn't yet figured out how to condense it all into anything that could be mobile."

Minion asked suddenly, "What about nanotechnology, Sir?" They had previously experimented with and even made some pioneering efforts in the developing science.

"Yes, Minion. I think that is where the most realistic possibility lies," he admitted. "Up to now I haven't had enough opportunity to pursue it satisfactorily." There were other ideas he had as well, more dangerous and disturbing possibilities, but he would not bring them up now with Roxanne present and in such an emotional state.

"Well of course not! Since you insisted on working on all this by yourself, without _my_ help!" Minion chided. "I don't even know when you had the free time to achieve this much." He knew his value as a sidekick, and nanotech applications would require their combined efforts. The two had always worked best and fastest together. Buoyed up by the certainty that they would soon be able to come up with a solution, he grinned at the thought of having his boss, his ward, his dearest friend back again, walking among the living.

"Well, I certainly have the time to work on it now," Megamind admitted. "If I had thumbs, I'd be twiddling them."

Minion smiled and nodded. Without work to do for the city, they could devote all their time to the problem. "We'll get started tomorrow! I'd better get some sleep then." He paused to add, "I missed you too, Sir. We're so happy to have you back again."

They could almost hear the smile in his voice. "Thanks, you fantastic fish."

He chuckled at hearing the affectionate moniker. "Good night!"

The brainbots had brought Roxanne the bedding she wanted, and she arranged things to her liking while Megamind asked after Jack. "How is he?"

"He's ok. Still unsettled, maybe unsure of what's happened." As she reclined on the cot, covering herself, she decided not to tell him about the scene she had caused earlier. "Of course he misses you. But he's very young, you know." Jack was barely two, but the same kind of two-year-old Megamind had been himself, precocious, intuitive, full of surprises. The truth was that she wasn't sure how deeply he comprehended his father's death, but he probably grasped the situation more fully than she gave him credit for. She wondered aloud, "How do we tell him about this? _Should_ we tell him yet?"

"I think I can help him understand. Tomorrow we'll come up with a plan before you bring him down here to talk to me."

"Ok." She trusted his judgment. He and their son seemed to share something she wasn't part of, an understanding on some level that was beyond her ability to participate in. But instead of feeling jealous, it pleased her to know they had a way of relating to each other that was unique, almost like the bond identical twins sometimes shared. And it was all the more reason she hated to see Jack lose his father so early.

"Time for bed, my love?"

Such a simple question, but she blinked at the tears that threatened again. How many times had they asked each other that over the past few years, by routine or by way of gently suggesting the other needed more rest or as an invitation to romance? It was a habit they had cultivated early, as long as circumstances allowed, going to bed at the same time. And this was the closest she could get to that now. But how could she fall asleep with her emotions still in an aching tangle of anxiety, happiness, hope, and uncertainty? Question after question formed in her thoughts, and over everything hung the poignant fear that she might wake up in the morning to find he wasn't really there after all. "I really don't want to sleep. But I will soon anyway. I'm in my bed now, hardly able to keep my eyes open."

"Wish I was there with you." His wistful words tugged at her heart, and she wrapped an arm over her waist and rubbed her cheek along the pillow, trying to imagine the feeling of his skin. "We made love just before my last download."

She swallowed as her whole chest seemed to contract painfullly. "We made love a week ago," she quietly confirmed. "And I would give anything… anything at all for you to be able to touch me again."

He was quiet for several moments, and she wondered what he was thinking. _What does it feel like in there?_ When he did answer, she could hear the regret in his voice, a burden he placed on himself, feeling he had failed somehow. "I know." The computer could even replicate the hoarseness that always signaled he was hurting inside. "I would too, Roxanne. I'm so sorry."

"It's ok," she whispered, even though it wasn't. "We'll be ok."


	3. Chapter 3

It took just four days for the work to be finished. The two had little difficulty applying themselves to the task. Megamind did not need to eat or sleep anyway, and Minion could only be convinced to pause when his boss insisted, using the time to chat with Roxanne and Jack and even Wayne, whom they had decided should be privy to the secret contained in the basement of the formerly evil Lair. Other than those persons, no one else was to be made aware of the continued existence of the city's lost blue hero. There were just too many legal and practical complications to going public. As far as Metro City was concerned, Megamind's funeral had closed a chapter in its history that would never be repeated. Unspoken between the technologically bound alien and his piscean sidekick was also the understanding that the transfer they were hoping to accomplish involved risks to the integrity of his neural net. It wouldn't do to get people's hopes up, only to have to make lengthy explanations or even declare another period of mourning.

The materials they needed were mostly at hand in the massive collection of parts that filled entire areas of the old power plant and even some of the outlying buildings of his complex. Minion made modifications as necessary, patiently dealing with his boss's severe scrutiny of the work. He knew it frustrated him to not be able to weld and cut and shape the materials himself, unable to participate in the physical craftsmanship which had always been one of his favorite aspects of construction.

Little Jack seemed to accept everything that was happening as easily as he grasped the laws of physics his father had been explaining to him since he was an infant. He sat perched on the edge of the big black chair, legs swinging freely, reading the letters forming words across the screen as he listened to his father's voice. "What does it feel like in there, Daddy?" he asked bluntly.

Roxanne smiled to herself. Leave it to a child to ask the questions everyone wanted to know the answers to but just couldn't bring themselves to ask.

"I feel just like me, Jack. The same as I did when I was still in my old body."

Jack leaned forward and tapped the screen. "Did you feel that?"

"No…" Before he could explain further, he heard the curious little boy smack the top of the rectangular box harder. "OW!"

With a startled gasp, Jack's eyes became perfectly round. Then his father's laughing voice reassured him, "I'm just kidding! No, I couldn't feel that either."

The bubbly baby laugh the little boy erupted into filled his mother's heart with happiness, seeing the two reunited again. "Dad, you a nut." Holding back an instantaneous correction, she allowed herself to enjoy being amused by his rare lapse in speech instead. It reminded her that despite his phenomenal intelligence, he was still a child.

The two of them began spending most of their time in the basement, working and playing alongside the dynamic duo as they theorized and tested and occasionally argued and finally created. Minion and the bots moved equipment down into the subterranean room so he could more readily follow his boss's instructions, following the schematics and formulas the genius brain brought up on the screen and in turn being able to explain what he was looking at or doing without running back and forth from the basement to the lab. Jack moved a good deal of his toys to the area, and Roxanne brought her laptop and a comfortable chair. She continued to occupy the cot at night as well. "I feel like we're all living in a bomb shelter," she observed as she prepared to get into bed one night. The project stood, almost complete, near the network of hardware that contained its creator.

"Not for much longer hopefully," Megamind assured her apologetically. He didn't like the thought of his wife and son spending so much of their time underground either.

"Oh! No, I didn't mean to complain. Really," she asserted. "I'm so lucky you're still here. However long it takes to finish this is nothing compared to being without you for the rest of my life."

Megamind sighed. It was time he tell her about the risks inherent in what they were going to attempt to do. Although he was loathe to stir up her emotions again when she had been doing so well and ask her to consider the idea that he might be altered to some degree or that she might even lose him again, he knew she deserved to have an understanding of what could happen. He began to explain in layman's terms how the transfer of his neural net would work. "But the truth is, Roxanne, we're dealing with experimental ideas and technology. There's a possibility that the information could become unstable or even be lost. In part or in whole."

She had listened solemnly, silently. "You mean, _you_ could become unstable. Or lost." She had sudden misgivings about letting them even try it. But how could she ask him to stay locked away just because she was afraid? Megamind had never lived that way. "But you'll still have the information stored in here, won't you?"

"I'm… not sure. The transfer could even cause the original material to be corrupted."

Swallowing, Roxanne tried to remain calm, to not let the panicky feeling rising inside her take over. Yes, he could hardly exist in two places at once. What if he wasn't the same afterward? Just how different might he be? What if he was gone forever? "Life is about taking risks. Otherwise you aren't living." The brave words the two of them often recited to each other when facing dangerous situations popped out of her mouth automatically, even though she wasn't feeling the remotest amount of the courage they seemed to convey.

"Yes," he answered quietly. He knew she was making a valiant effort, and he was as proud of her as he was concerned for her emotional state. "If I wasn't confident we'd put in our best work, I wouldn't be doing this though."

"I know," she answered before taking a deep breath. "And I trust you."

He paused before admitting softly, "I have something else I've been working on. Something for us."

"What is it?"

He seemed to hesitate. "I've wanted so much to be with you again. And… I don't want to go ahead with the transfer until we've had at least a chance." _In case we never get the chance again._ He stopped, unsure of how to explain and wondering if his unspoken thought had betrayed him in type on the screen.

"Megs?"

With quiet seriousness, he proposed, "I can't be with you out there, Roxanne. But you can be with me in here."

_What?_ "How? How do I do that?"

"You'll find an electrode cap in a compartment to the bottom left of the chair."

"Yours?" she asked as she bent to look for it, assuming it was the one he had used for his weekly downloads. "I think it's going to be a little big on me."

The bodiless voice chuckled. "No, this one is for you."

She straightened, holding it in her hands now, examining the black rubbery apparatus studded with small round electrodes that each trailed a colorful wire. "You thought that far ahead?"

"Well, I did speculate about the idea. But actually… after trying this on myself, I wondered if I might one day convince you to make weekly downloads too. Eventually. So far though, we don't have enough equipment here to hold another neural net unless the nanotechnology works."

"I doubt that I'd require quite as much space as you," she demurred.

"Oh my darling…" he purred. "You have the most beautiful mind. Extremely efficient, highly organized, stunningly flexible… I'm as turned on to your mind as I am to your body, Roxanne. Although it's more and more obvious the mind can only satisfy so far."

She smiled at his unique way of declaring his respect and attraction to her. _So very Megamind._ "I know. As grateful as I am to have you still here, being able to talk to you… I miss the rest. A lot."

His voice was lower now, seductive and inviting. "Are you willing to try this then? Come and be with me. It won't hurt."

Immensely nervous, the possibility of being near him again in any way was too much to pass up. And if the transfer did not go well, she would never forgive herself for not trying. "What do I do?"

He instructed her in how to put the cap on, gently making sure each electrode was in contact with the scalp through her hair. There was nothing more to it than the feeling of having on the kind of swim cap she wore as a young girl at the lake with the additional sensation of something akin to a hairbrush touching her head. "The leads gathered together that come out the back connect to the third port on the left side of the CPU by the monitor." They were long enough to allow her to move comfortably away from the desk quite a distance, and once she'd followed all his instructions, she crossed the few steps to the cot and lay down, wrapping herself in his cape that she had been sleeping with for the past four nights.

"Megamind?"

"Yes, sweetheart."

She held the black leather around herself tightly, slightly anxious and still unsure. Her nervousness made her feel awkward and uncertain of what to do. She couldn't help but smile at the irony. "Be gentle with me. It's my first time," she murmured by way of explaining how she felt.

His chuckle assured her that he understood and that he appreciated the juxtaposition of their experiences as well. "I'm right here. I'll be as gentle with you as you were with me on my first time."

She laughed a little. "I don't recall being all that gentle with you our first time."

"I know," he said hoarsely. "God, it was so good."

She smiled wider, rubbing her lips on the edge of the cape, then sobered somewhat again. "I'm a little scared."

"I'm here, Roxanne. It's going to be all right. Relax…"

* * *

><p>It felt like waking up from a vivid dream. The kind that seem so real you're hardly aware of crossing the line from unconsciousness to consciousness again. She was still shaking, breathing in long ragged gasps. The upper part of the cape was wrapped around her shoulders and clutched tightly in her hands, the lower half wadded up between her legs. "Oh my gosh…" she breathed.<p>

"Roxanne?" He sounded much more collected than she felt.

"Yes… I'm here."

"Are you all right?"

She wasn't sure why he was asking, but as she continued to shiver uncontrollably, she wondered if her physical reaction was more than just recovering from what had seemed like an intense but oddly empty climax. "I think so," she answered, racked by a stronger shudder and aware of her voice sounding shaky as well. "That was… that was intense… but…"

"I know…" he agreed thoughtfully. "I found it strangely… unsatisfying."

"I'm sorry," she quickly offered, wondering if she could have done something more for him.

"No, no, my love," he quickly answered. "It wasn't your fault at all. I could feel you there, Roxanne." He sighed. "It was almost like touching you for real. But… there's simply no body for me to experience this with and, well, I guess I underestimated the importance of that in the level of satisfaction I would have from the experience."

She laughed a little and with unsteady hands tried to rearrange the cape to cover more of her as she continued to shiver and feel chilled. "You know, most men would see it the opposite way. They underestimate the importance of the _mind_ in sex. It's all about the body to them."

"Idiots. Well," he conceded, "I never was like most men. Uh, in some ways."

"Maybe if we tried again…"

"No, Roxanne." She was surprised by his quickly definitive response. "As much as I loved having you here beside me." He sighed. "Oh, sweetheart… you were so near. God, I was almost there. It was _so close_ to being real…" Pausing, he seemed to pull himself back to the present. "But I don't like the response you're having to this."

"You mean the shaking?" she asked. "Why am I shaking?"

He was silent for a moment. "I'm not sure. But I'm reading your output through the electrodes from in here, and you're lit up like a Christmas tree. I think it's just too much for you."

A keen sense of loss flooded her all over again. She was sad for him, not having been fully satisfied, and disappointed at seeing any future opportunity to try again, maybe improve the experience through practice, move beyond her reach. But she suspected he was right.

It had been like the most realistic erotic dream she'd ever had, and just as frustrating in some ways. As soon as she closed her eyes, he was there beside her, holding her, so familiar and welcome... and yet he kept slipping away just when the sensations seemed to become most intense, making her want to cry out with frustration, grasping at him desperately. With no reference point, they seemed to be floating in space, and she found herself missing the tangibility of mattress and sheets and the weight of him... those things that made the experience more earthy and real were simply not present.

Strangely she could not feel but very few of his kisses, and she missed that intimate means of touch almost more than anything. He was saying her name longingly, murmuring in her ear although at times she couldn't make out his words. She wanted to taste him too, let her tongue glide along his blue skin, take his ear gently between her teeth. She ached for the scent of him, warm and comforting along his neck, to feel his body heat against her, but those more refined sensory delights seemed to be lost. Her hands were definitely all over him and his on her. Some parts seemed more acutely clear, and she wondered how much her ability to perceive it all was based on the strength of her stored memories. She could feel him moving, sensed him caressing her, joining himself to her… but when she tensed, wanting to intensify the sensations, grasp tighter, get closer, he seemed to fade away too much, like she was trying to hold onto someone made of smoke. So she had attempted to relax more, to stop struggling and trying so hard… which seemed to help, although it was not how she preferred to make love with him. But at least he was there. Just as he'd said, it had almost felt real. But not quite. And yet he had brought her to a powerful climax that somehow left her inexplicably empty at the same time. She missed him more than ever.

He broke the silence of their mutual contemplation by assuring her, "I'm not giving up. We'll find other ways."

She smiled weakly, trying not to give in to being disheartened. "I'm sure you will." Finally she was breathing slower, the quaking inside and out beginning to subside as she warmed up and calmed down again. "Megamind, I love you."

Softly he requested again, "Close your eyes."

She was still wearing the cap of electrodes and wondered what he was going to do when he had just asserted they would not make love that way anymore. "Megs…?"

"Trust me. Please. I would never let anything bad to happen to you. Never hurt you. Just… close your eyes. I know it's not in your nature, but I'm asking you to try being passive." He nearly chuckled as he said it. Passive was not a word that described his spirited partner.

But hearing his heartfelt request and wanting so much to make something work for them, she acquiesced, took a deep breath, closed her eyes. She imagined putting herself in his hands entirely, letting him take control as though he might be about to lead her in the steps of an unfamiliar dance. And suddenly he was there, spooning with her on the cot. Just lying behind her, his arms clearly enclosing her in the most comforting familiar embrace… she could even sense those arms she missed so much draw her closer to his body, holding her tight. Nearly breathless, she attempted a simple movement, placing her hand along his forearm… and let out a quiet huff of disbelief. She could feel it. Tears welled in her eyes, but she did not open them.

"I love you, Roxanne."

Answering with a catch in her voice, she tried to maintain her composure, to keep the link between them strong. "I love you…" _Why can I do this and not make love to him? _She couldn't help being disappointed in herself_._ "I wanted more for you."

He seemed to be nuzzling her hair and fervently murmured, "This is enough."


	4. Chapter 4

"Dad! You're gonna be just like Minion!"

The new project did bear some similarity to the anthropoid mecha suit inhabited by their favorite fish. It was the first form of conveyance the two thought of when deciding how to give mobility to the nano-net that would essentially be Megamind. Or at least his brain.

"Is it a Transformer?" Jack added hopefully as he gazed up at the metallic construction, more slender and android in style than Minion's personal outfit.

The voice still emanating from inside the computer was amused. "Unfortunately it doesn't transform into anything, Jack," he informed the boy. "Somehow I don't think your mother would appreciate that."

Roxanne added, "Thank you! Yes, that would be just a little too disturbing."

Paying no attention to them, Jack prattled on as he gazed in awe at the polished surface. "You could make it turn into a motorcycle! And you could _zoom_ around the city at night and run down bad guys and-"

"Hmmm!"

"No." The uncompromising tone of Roxanne's voice quelled the idea immediately, and the other two whined in disappointment. "Jack, say goodbye to Daddy and Minion now. They have work to do."

"Wait!" Megamind called out. "Do you have any Jack jokes for me before you go?"

The simple last request for his son's own brand of humor made Roxanne wonder if Megamind had become more concerned about the feasibility of the transfer. Did he want one last memory to hold onto? She tried not to let the anxiety she felt show.

The little blue face scrunched up for a moment before querying, "How did Jack know how many beans his cow was worth?"

"Uhhh. I don't know. How?"

The brown eyes lit up above a mischievous grin as he answered, "He used a COWculator!" Satisfied at hearing his father's laughter, he took Roxanne by the hand. "Come on, Mom. Uncle Wayne said he's going to take me flying today. Bye, Daddy!"

That had been three hours ago. Three hours that she'd paced or sat staring blankly in Wayne's plush accommodations after making her own gut-wrenching farewell privately, listening to his reassurances, wearing the electrode cap for one more hug before she left. The night before she had tried to stay awake in order to stay in his embrace as long as possible. But fatigue had won out long before she wanted it to. And today was the day. They had not been sure how long the transfer of the neural net into the nano-brain would actually require, but finally Minion had sent a text. _Come home_.

Steeling her nerve, she walked back into the Lair, noting how quiet everything seemed. _It's too quiet._ _Where are they? _She half expected to hear them celebrating, talking, anything_. Maybe they're not finished yet?_ _Why did he need me to come back?_ Unable to bear considering the more dire possibilities, she headed automatically for the basement. No sound came from below as she descended with her heart in her mouth, and upon reaching the flat screen where she had sat and listened to him for the past four days, she found it dark. Blank. She looked around. The mecha suit was gone as well. Her heart plummeted to her shoes, but scolding herself she made her way back up the stairs with deliberately calm and measured steps.

As she was thoughtfully closing the door to the subterranean room, she heard a clattering… and suddenly a shiny, slender form skidded around a corner, nearly falling over, catching itself on one leg with a few quick hops and flailing arms before successfully righting again and preparing to take off at a run.

"Megamind?"

Checking his forward movement, he jerked upright and looked back at her with his strikingly green eyes. "You're back!"

Just then Minion rounded the corner with a triumphant shout and blasted him with the dehydration gun. Then he noticed Roxanne. "Oh! You're back!" He saw her staring in consternation at the blue cube on the floor. "Oops, sorry!"

As he hastily picked it up, she questioned, "What are you two doing?"

"Well," he chuckled, reaching into his dome for a little water to splash onto his dehydrated friend. "We were testing out the new suit, getting him used to it, finding out what it's capable of… Then we, uh, kind of got to messing around having a mock battle and…"

Megamind reappeared, smiling broadly, arms flung wide. "Welcome home!"

She looked him over, taking in the sleek shape of his new body. Shining titanium alloy devoid of the primate hair that covered his sidekick closely approximated the dimensions of his former physique. The interlocking and overlapping pieces almost appeared seamless and moved with familiar fluidity. Colored a satiny midnight blue over the torso and limbs, the lightning bolt and his personal insignia graced the front as usual, leaving the intricately built hands their natural silvery sheen. Rising out of the shoulders was his long neck enclosed in the shortened black collar he'd adopted after his conversion crowned by the same big blue head she had begged Minion to display for her only a few days ago. She reached out to touch him, marveling as her fingers trailed tentatively over realistic skin. He smilingly watched her and raised one mechanical hand to caress the back of hers. The metal fingertips felt smooth and cold, but his touch was as delicate as if it had been from hands of flesh. He wanted to grab her up in a hug but held back, giving her time.

Roxanne realized he was wearing the disguise generator around one wrist. "It's… this is amazing. You two have outdone yourselves. So the transfer was a success?"

"Went off without a hitch," Minion answered with a grin. "We started with Jack's joke as a test run. It came back just fine, so we took the plunge."

"Oh… that's why you asked him for a joke."

"Yes," Megamind explained. "I needed a recent memory – something non-essential – to use as the guinea pig." He added thoughtfully, "Although it's funny how reluctant I was to lose even that small remembrance of him."

_It looks like him, sounds like him… just incredible_. "How... um… what about…this?" she wondered aloud, still tracing along and staring at the features of the face she loved so well.

"Partial projection," he explained, indicating the watch's ability to display selected portions of a scanned body at a time.

"And without it?"

His smile faded. "Without it, there's nothing there, just as you saw it downstairs standing by the network. The nano-brain is actually stored in my chest. Safer there. If you think about it, except for the skull's protection, the brain is located in a pretty precarious position being perched at the end of a neck the way it is."

She tried to imagine him speaking to her without the disguise generator's assistance, a headless body, and her hand dropped slowly as an undeniable horror about the stark truth flooded through her, followed a sense of guilt – guilty that she wasn't more thankful that he was present at all, able to move about, no longer trapped immobile in a computer. But the use of yet another device, another disguise… _I just want what's real, _she lamented_. But you know what, Roxanne? The reality is your husband is gone. And yet, he's still in there, l__ocked up in yet another kind of prison for your sake._ The thought of her gorgeous blue lover's unique body being gone forever, replaced with a headless machine... there was a sense of the macabre about it. _Maybe my imagination is making this out to be worse than it is though_. "Can I see?"

He was clearly uncertain about the wisdom of her request. "Roxanne… I don't think... are you sure you want to?" Why would she rather have that vision of him in her head than this one?

"Yes, I think I do," she answered with more certainty than she felt.

"But look," he coaxed, lifting her hand to his face again, hoping to dissuade her. "It feels just like me. Far better than just a hologram. And I can sense you touching me. And… if you prefer… " He turned the watch and the disguise was complete. Before her now stood what she really wanted most of all, or at least the closest approximation, but this time with him underneath it instead of Minion. She couldn't resist closing the distance between them into his arms, her lips pressed to his cheek. Neither heard Minion excuse himself to give them some time alone.

"Sweetheart…" he murmured into her ear and smiled as his arms closed around her for the first time in weeks. The sensory integrators were well tuned, even allowing him to 'feel' her lips on his face, then against his mouth as she gave in to the deception to have the physical contact that she ached for with him once again.

Roxanne realized the blue skin felt like his skin, looked like it even with her eyes close enough that her lashes brushed his cheek, and the lips felt like his lips, strong and tender. "You feel so real," she whispered wonderingly, running her fingers over his temple and down his neck as they kissed and nuzzled. _I want you to be real. I want to just forget what's happened._ But even as she embraced him, she couldn't shake the knowledge that underneath it all, he was still absent in the most basic sense. The thought of the hard shell enclosing the man she loved in digital form couldn't be dismissed entirely even though at this moment she thoroughly wanted her mind to stop fighting and give in and allow itself to be fooled completely. Something… something kept the illusion from being complete.

She pulled away to look in his eyes, so alive and just as expressive as ever, gazing back at her lovingly, almost pleading for her acceptance. Why could she more easily ignore her last memory of him lying broken on the gurney than the thought of him headless under this fabrication? "Megs," she murmured to him as she stroked along an eyebrow and over his cheekbone, shaking her head as her fingertips trailed along the collar and down the front of the suit he always wore, "You come up with the most incredible ideas." As he chuckled and submitted to her curious explorations, she frowned and asked, "How can it do this? I mean, the watch has always been one of your most amazing inventions, but…"

Enjoying holding her, he couldn't help feeling somewhat discomfited by her troubled expression and questioning. He wanted to simply lose himself in the moment, savor her physical proximity again, but he knew he shouldn't have expected her not to wonder about it all. Roxanne had always been one who needed to try to understand things. "You know how the hard light projection works."

"Well, basically," she agreed, "but I didn't know it could project... when there isn't something there underneath." As she paused, he realized the lack of a physical head was bothering her. "And you can feel me?" she asked, running a fingertip over his lips and down his chin.

He gently pulled her hand away and kissed her. "Just as clearly as when I held your hand as Bernard."

"But it was your own hand underneath then." She frowned. "And this…"

"You're right," he admitted before she had to verbalize the reality that she was touching nothing but an image of manipulated light particles. "But the sensors let me still detect what's happening, and the reactions are all mine." He kissed her more slowly and paused. "I still sense your touch, still feel aroused by having you near…" Feeling his arms tighten, she thought of the cold titanium frame under the illusion and felt a prickle of anxiety. Did he know his own strength? Quickly she reproached herself for doubting him as he continued. "It's still me… responding to you."

"Yes."

It sounded as though she said it as much to convince herself as to express her understanding. He gently lifted her anxious face toward his in one cool hand and began to kiss her, drawing her slowly into a more passionate exchange, assuring her he was still very much present inside his creation. She was cautious at first. He knew she was held back by doubts and questions and the knowledge of what he was now, but as he patiently pursued her with a sweet affection that she recognized came straight from the same heart that had always loved her, the swelling of her own heart quickly swallowed up her caution until she could freely answer.

_How much of a response is he capable of though? _Her hands slowly wandered over him with a kind of desperation as they kissed._ I want so much to just... accept this._ Her body had no trouble recognizing this as it's other half and ignited immediately, begging for what it missed, urging her closer. But even as her arms tightened and a shudder of pleasure passed through her as she felt his lips tease at her ear, she was unwillingly aware of the absence of the tickling warmth of his breath. Skimming her nose along his cheek, she tried to ignore the omission, but another discrepancy was betrayed as she automatically searched for the comforting scent of his skin the way she used to, only to realize it was missing as well.

Disappointment and sadness filled her, like mourning him all over again, and she gently broke from his kiss to rest her forehead against his, hoping he wouldn't notice the trembling of her mouth and how close she was to tears. He almost felt the same. He just wasn't the same. But at least he was there. "It is _so nice_ to be holding you again. I can't… help wanting more… but I can't have more, can I." She knew that even if they had made him anatomically correct in every detail, she couldn't bring herself to make love to a machine anyway. She knew there were people who might be open to the possibility of human-cyborg sexual relations, turned on by the idea even, but she recognized her own limits. She wanted him, flesh and blood, to share the experience with, not some facsimile that might simply bring her relief from her physical frustrations.

"No, my clever girl, you're right," he answered ruefully. "We never did get around to scanning me in the nude-" She smiled weakly, unable to imagine what reason there would have been to do such a thing, while he admitted, "So I can't undress the projection, and the suit… well, obviously there are certain things it can't do." The sadness in his eyes conveyed his own recognition of and disappointment in the limitations of his creation, and Roxanne would have liked to kick herself for not simply accepting what he'd done and being satisfied with it. _I should be delighted_._ How many women would give anything to have their husband back like this?_

"It does have a port though. For your cap to plug into if I can tweak it."

She thought about their dreamlike encounter. It was beginning to seem like a more attractive option all the time. "So… you mean I'll plug into you now?" she asked with a coy smirk. "Turn about's fair play, huh?"

His eyebrows lifted at hearing her make light of the strange method of intimacy. She had been grave and somber for so long that he chuckled and hugged her again with a sigh and a smile, realizing how much he had missed her quick wit.

Still marveling over the deception of both their senses, she pulled back and smoothed her hands over his chest and then watched her fingers drift over his head and finally mentioned that he felt cool. "Bernard's skin felt warm… and when Minion was you…" She tried to recall that frantic chase, the reckless run for their lives from Metro City Tower barreling down on them. She'd been clutching him tightly, but with the wind rushing past and the panic… Then when she'd lifted his head from the ruble near the fountain, he'd felt cold, but she had assumed he was in shock, dying.

"It can't replicate body heat, I'm afraid. That has to come from underneath." He hadn't anticipated that she would look for so many details.

_I am being so ungrateful about this. Just stop it_. "Sorry. I just… those little things… you know…" She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and rubbed her nose near his ear. "The way you smelled… everything."

"I know, Roxanne." His hands rubbed comfortingly down her back as he offered, "At least you don't have to live in that basement anymore like the Apocalypse has come upon us." It didn't seem like much of a consolation prize now considering the shortcomings she had unwittingly pointed out.

"The day you died… it might as well have been just that," she whispered.

Wayne's voice rang out in the space, "Anybody home?" He had returned with Jack, having delayed their homecoming to give Roxanne a chance to check the situation out first. Not hearing from her and assuming no news was good news, they had come in at last and Minion with them. As Jack ran to his father and looked wide-eyed at the full body projection holding his mother close, he asked, "Where's your new suit?"

Megamind grinned as they separated, and he turned the watch backward to satisfy the little boy's burning curiosity, revealing his new metallic frame with the projected face again. Jack was truly like him – his fascination with the technology overriding practical concerns, at least temporarily. His son and Roxanne had very different perspectives on the entire situation, as could only be expected, and he found his son's youthful enthusiasm uplifting and hopeful.

"Wow! Daddy, that's your head! Did you know your hands don't have any skin? How fast can this thing go?"

"It's impressive, little buddy." Despite the compliment, Wayne seemed dubious as he examined the sleek invention. Obviously he was thinking of it from Roxanne's point of view.

"I know. It has its limitations, I admit. There's a lot more we could do. We were trying to be quick."

"But he's mobile now. It's a huge improvement," Roxanne asserted in his defense, determined to try harder to look on the bright side.

Minion added, "We're thinking about growing a skin for it too."

"Really?" Roxanne was surprised. Megamind had not mentioned a skin at all.

He was glaring at Minion a little, not sure it was a good time to explain the experimental idea that would blur the lines between man and machine even more. Roxanne was already struggling, and he didn't want to tax her imagination and emotions further.

"Daddy," Jack requested his attention by tapping a small hand on one metal leg, "you could grow a whole new body."

Megamind bent to pick up his son in his arms and smiled at his suggestion. "Great idea! That would probably take a long time though. I wanted you and your mother out of the basement. Now we can all go outside together."

"Well, how about fixing the old one?" the little voice queried further, brown eyes gazing into green.

A stillness came over the small group. "Fix the old what?" asked Roxanne quietly.

He looked at her with a seriousness that clearly conveyed his conviction that his father could do anything they might possibly think up. "Daddy's old body," he stated. The grownups exchanged looks, conveying different meanings between them. Because of the damage caused by the building's collapse, the funeral had been conducted with a closed casket, and only three of the adults present had seen the body before it was interred.

Megamind seemed disturbed at the innocent suggestion, and Roxanne's heart ached for him when he quietly hugged Jack tighter and said, "I wish that was possible, Jack Be Nimble. I do."

Clearing his throat, Minion said, "Come on, Jack. It's time you had a nap." He gave Wayne a pointed look. "Because I'm sure you didn't get one at uncle _Wayne's_ house, and you're going to be a very cranky boy later if-"

"'Course he didn't get one at my house! We were busy having _fun_, right Jacky? Who needs naps? _I_ never took a nap when _I_ was little!" The little boy's eyes lit up, serious talk forgotten as he observed the two begin a long-standing mock argument over his care.

"Oh, that's really grown up!" Minion derided the huge man who shrugged.

"Eh, who needs to grow up anyway? I'm not going to. Are you, Jack-in-the-Box?"

"Of course he's going to! He's going to grow up to be just like his father, and-"

Wayne thumbed at Minion and rolled his eyes. "He don't know Jack." The blue boy giggled.

As they continued the spiel, putting on a show and effectively easing the tension of the situation, Roxanne's cell phone rang. The number was unfamiliar to her, but she flipped it open. "Hello?" As she listened, she reached again to touch her husband's light-created skin, his eyes turning from an amused contemplation of their friends to gaze back at her. _It is amazing_, she thought, running her thumb along his cheek as she cupped his jaw in her palm. "This is Roxanne Ritchi," she answered the caller who asked for her by the name she'd kept for her career. _We can make this work… we're going to be ok… _As though divining her thoughts, he smiled at her and reached to put an arm around her again.

Suddenly her expression froze, the budding hope there overshadowed as the caller's message began to register. "Yes?" Megamind watched with growing concern as she grew tense and pale. "Oh no... When?" Visibly shaken now, she lifted a hand to her mouth and turned away from her son and friends, still playing the little war of words escalating in silliness. Megamind followed her, watching with concern and wondering what was happening. "I don't understand…." She reached blindly for him, staring at the floor as she listened intently. His sensors told him her hands had grown cold. "Ok. Yes, I… I understand. I'll be there as soon as possible." She closed the phone slowly and looked at Megamind in silence for several long seconds.

"What is it?" he asked finally.

"Bernard-" she began and stopped in disbelief. "Bernard's killed himself."


	5. Chapter 5

"Wayne?"

"Yeah?" he was tossing a laughing Jack in the air.

"We need to scan you please." With his street clothes and short beard, he had the most normal appearance of anyone in the room besides Roxanne herself.

He began an exaggerated round of complaining for Jack's amusement. "Aw, man! Do I have to? You know I-" The look on her face stopped him short. "What's going on?"

"We just need to borrow your face for now. And could you and Minion stay with Jack? Megamind and I h-have to go out." In other words, she wasn't willing to say in front of her son what was happening. Wayne quickly acquiesced and was scanned into the disguise generator. He took Jack off to play a game as Minion followed the two to the Hudson.

"Who was on the phone?"

"A lawyer." She appeared to be shell-shocked. "We have to go to the hospital," was all she could muster up by way of response.

"Don't worry, Minion. I'll fill you in on everything when we get back," Megamind assured as he turned the disguise on and put his stunned wife gently into the car. "Take good care of Jack."

* * *

><p>Lights still blinked and machines softly beeped. A ventilator hissed and sighed. Bernard appeared to be asleep, but the doctor assured them he was brain dead and would naturally pass away once the machines that were sustaining all of his involuntary functions were removed.<p>

"How did this happen?" Roxanne's voice could barely be heard. Hesitantly, she reached to stroke a lock of hair away from the high forehead. _That mad-scientist hair. Funny it suited him so well. At rest like this… he looks so much more like Megamind did… back when… _With an almost audible swallow, she withdrew her hand again. It was like losing him twice. First as himself and now to even lose the man who she would always think of as his 'other self'. And yet Bernard was really nothing like the funny, brave, wonderful person she had eventually discovered hiding underneath his outward appearance. Hiding just to have a chance to get close to her because he assumed, and sadly she knew he was right, that she wouldn't have given him a chance otherwise.

"He was found in the museum by a couple who wandered in just after closing. The doors hadn't been locked, I guess. They found him collapsed in the Hall of Heroes with this over his head." He held out a police evidence bag. Inside beads of moisture had condensed off of one the museum's signature gift shop bags… one sporting a close up of Megamind's face on it.

"Oh my go-" Roxanne looked away from it, and the man who looked like Wayne Scott quickly pushed it out of her line of sight with a frown.

"He was unconscious. They called 911. The emergency crew was able to revive him enough by performing CPR during transport until we could get him on life support here…" the doctor shrugged. "But he's already gone. We're just delaying the inevitable." After explaining more thoroughly what was happening to him and the lack of options available, he left them to speak to a sallow-skinned lawyer with a greasy comb-over who stood watching them from the other side of the hospital bed.

"His will clearly states that he wished to leave any remaining effects to you and your spouse, er, late spouse," he told Roxanne, showing her the official documents. "Also granting you durable power of attorney and naming you as a health care proxy."

"What does that mean?" she asked, glancing at the legal papers in her hands.

"It means you're empowered to make any and all health care decisions for him if he is incapable of choosing for himself. As he is now. Obviously."

Shaking her head, she was clearly dumbfounded. "Why would he do that? Us? I mean, me? What about his family?"

"He didn't have any immediate family. Mr. Brown was an orphan, estranged from his adoptive parents who I understand are both deceased now, birth family unknown. It's not my place to question whom he chose or why. But these were his last wishes," he informed them. "The will and directives are current, both made out and signed within the last five years."

_They would be_, Roxanne thought. _That's when we changed his life… but I always thought he held it against us. _

It had been almost unbelievable to witness the transformation in that one body. When Bernard was first rehydrated, she felt some misgivings about seeing him again, wondering if she would feel a lingering attraction to the man she had thought she was in love with. She need not have worried. As soon as she saw and spoke to him, she knew he was not the same person at all – the facial expressions, the way he talked, his gestures, even the way he stood and walked. It had been incredible how much of a difference it all made, to the point that he barely resembled the person she had dated. And yet, she could not deny she still felt a sentimental fondness for Bernard.

Megamind had made sure he was reinstated as the museum's curator after profuse apologies and a thorough explanation of what had happened during the time he spent in suspended animation stuck in a villain's pocket. It only seemed right to tell him everything, considering that he had been seen around Metro City with Roxanne by a good number of people. Luckily, the pair had been able to truthfully assure him that his borrowed image had not been involved in any intimate moments beyond a brief kiss in a restaurant. Roxanne recalled that although he dryly expressed his profound relief over that detail, she had secretly thought he seemed a little disappointed.

After that he had resumed his work with his usual misleading lassitude. She knew that he really loved it there, an ever-present fixture in the building, married to his job. His acerbic attitude toward every visitor, including the famous couple he continued to be in contact with on a semi-regular basis, was perplexing, but they simply accepted it as a personal quirk. He didn't seem to invite friendship or know how to interact with people, nor care to try.

The attorney was now removing a piece of paper from yet another evidence bag and held it out to Roxanne. "He did leave a note. It could be construed as being directed to you, so I thought you might wish to read it."

Roxanne carefully took the sheet of plain paper, thoughts of the distraught man carefully penning his final words on it with the gift bag near at hand giving her a chill.

_Our heroes are dead, and I'm left behind. I used to be someone. Now that someone is gone. Keep me close, like you did back then. _

She frowned, "This is… kind of cryptic." Looking to the legal advisor, she asked, "Did he leave instructions or requests about where he should be buried? I'm not sure what he means by 'keep me close'."

Clearing his throat, the man admitted, "He had a very specific request. He wanted to be dehydrated again. By your… late husband's, uh, specialized weapon."

Stunned, Roxanne stared at the man who gazed back at her with gentle pity. "I… um…" _Keep me close…_

"I think we need some time. Ms Ritchi has been through a lot lately," Megamind interrupted in Wayne's voice.

"Of course." With difficulty he closed the overstuffed briefcase and checked his watch. "Look, I have another appointment right now. Call me tomorrow when you're ready to sign some things." Walking to the doorway, he paused to look back. "I'll let the doctor know to turn off the machines then?"

"Not yet," Roxanne suddenly pleaded. "It's all right to wait until tomorrow, isn't it?"

With a silent nod, he left them.

* * *

><p>In the Hudson, the couple sat silently staring ahead for several long moments. Megamind glanced at his wife, concerned for her state of mind considering the number of stressful events she'd faced in such a short period of time. She had always been strong, but even the strongest person reached a limit at some point. Suddenly looking over at him, she declared, "I need you to be you. Now."<p>

He promptly turned the car to invisibility mode then twisted the watch so Wayne's wide, bearded face melted into his own slender blue viasge. He reached for her as she slid over to rest her head on his shoulder, nose pressed to his neck. She wanted, needed, to be comforted by him being there now, the scent of him real and reassuring, his warmth filling the chill and emptiness inside her. But so much had changed. The best she could do was hold yet another image close and try not to think about the robotic shell underneath. "I feel so guilty."

"Guilty? Why?"

"I can't help thinking we're responsible for this." She didn't look at him but spoke with her face still pressed to his neck as though in denial of the lack of comfort she ached for. "He was so shattered by your death, he killed himself. But… you're still here."

He frowned. "He chose to do what he did. No one made that decision for him."

"No… but maybe if we'd told everyone… announced that you're back."

"Roxanne," he began gently, "There are a lot more complications to going public than we want to deal with right now. Or possibly ever."

"But, is it right to let everyone think you're still dead? How many other people out there feel like he did?" She was beginning to sound distraught. "Who else looked up to you and… and is really hurting now? We might be able to stop someone else from taking their life."

Hugging her closer, he soothed, "Sweetheart, stop. I think Bernard was a particular and special case. Obviously, because of what happened, he felt a certain connection to us that only he could. And I don't think his response was in any way typical."

"But-"

"We're not going public right now, Roxanne," Megamind stated with finality. "That's all there is to it."

Even though she wasn't sure it was the right thing to do, she felt the lifting of a weight from her shoulders. His uncompromising stance removed the responsibility from her. Silently she nodded and tears began to run down her cheeks again. "Poor Bernard. What a terrible thing to do."

_An odd thing to do_, Megamind thought silently as he held his wife, frowning at the idea of Bernard willingly taking his life when his had been taken from him. And suicide by suffocation… with a bag that bore _his_ face? Disturbing. Not to mention his final wish for dehydration. Obviously the man identified with him more closely than he'd ever guessed.

As though she shared his thoughts, Roxanne added, "I had no idea he felt like that about us. About you. And we never reached out to him. I wish I'd known that he didn't have family." She sniffed and wished for a tissue. With all the crying lately, why wasn't there a box of them in the car? "What a lonely life."

"He seemed to _prefer_ being alone. Honey, you know how he was." He shrugged a bit and rubbed along her arm. "The man could make Scrooge look like Mary Poppins."

"I know. But now… knowing how much he identified with you. That bag… oh my gosh…" With a shudder she made a visible effort to stop thinking about the disturbing image of Bernard sprawled at the feet of the statues in the Hall of Heroes, struggling in the makeshift death mask that bore a face he seemed to wish to wear again. To die in. "I wish I'd known how upset he was. I was so caught up in my own problems, I didn't even think of him."

Megamind huffed in disbelief. "You had lost your _husband_! No one could expect you to go around comforting other people. This is not your fault, Roxanne." He was almost as annoyed with the man for leaving his wife to deal with the aftermath of his suicide as he was sorry for him. What if the neural net hadn't worked? What if she had been left to go through all of it alone? He hugged her tighter and kissed her head.

"I just remember… when you were Bernard." Memories swirling around them both like old leaves. The bike ride in the park and laughing together on a picnic blanket. Heated discussions over coffee and the trip to the art museum when he'd arranged to have everything back in place to surprise her. Getting to know each other outside of the kidnappings was only possible due to the disguise he'd created from Bernard's image. As much as she wished to call herself open-minded, she knew she had not been. She had not let herself consider her embarrassingly strong attraction to her spike and leather clad captor anything more than misguided urges. "I still have a soft spot in my heart for him. Just because of that."

"Well," he admitted. "I do too."

"Really?"

"I wouldn't have won you over without borrowing his face, his normality." It made her sad to hear him put it that way, and truth be told she regretted almost more than anything else the toast she had made on the fateful night his subterfuge fell apart, but they both knew those were the circumstance of their lives at the time. "I'll always be grateful to him for the loan."

"Yeah." They sat thinking. Finally with a sigh, she looked up and asked, "I suppose we should give the go ahead to turn off the ventilator and everything?"

Smoothing the half-dried tear marks from her cheek as he looked into her troubled blue eyes, he wished again that he had hands of flesh to comfort her with. He knew his fingers were cold, and he couldn't have blamed her for flinching from his touch, but the fact that she didn't told him how much she needed him. "Minion and I will take care of it. I don't want you to worry about any of it anymore."

She relaxed against him again. "What would I do without you, Megs?"

"Don't talk like that, Roxanne," he murmured unhappily. "You'd go on. Not happily, but you would." The fact that she continued to have to deal with such distressing events, and that he was the cause of so many of them, grieved him. "You don't know how strong you are, but it's going to be a very long time before you have to find out if I have anything to do with it."

"I hope so…" Lifting her chin and drawing his face toward hers, she kissed his lips, nuzzling along his nose, wishing she could warm it with a spark of affection, thinking if the strength of her love could give substance to the illusion before her, he'd be whole again.

Her touch stirred up flames of desire in him that were not only familiar but welcome. The Hudson had been the scene of many romantic encounters between them right from the start, and maybe it was because of that ingrained association as well as the deep concern he had for her now that caused him to have such a strong visceral reaction to her touch in this particular place. And yet everything he felt physically was nothing more than phantom sensation, and he found that incredibly frustrating despite the relief he felt that his ability to feel and respond had been preserved in the transfers.

As Roxanne continued to kiss him, cradling his face, he pulled her onto his lap as he had so often, feeling the wave of her body pressing against his as his arms tightened around her waist and shoulders. A cold voice of reason told him it was useless to go down this road, that she would surely shy away from the cold truth any time now, but he couldn't stop himself.

Roxanne ignored the persistent thought that she was making love to nothing but an illusion. She kissed lightly along the angle of his cheekbones, her lips softly drifting over the perfect facsimile of his smooth brow as he closed his eyes with a frustrated hum, savoring every sensation. Her brain cried out traitorously, "He isn't there!" and her heart begged for him to be the same as he had been before, but she continued on, determined to be content with what she had. Smoothly she rose over him, pressing him back against the seat with her weight, pressing her mouth to his with a kind of desperation.

He couldn't help but know what she was missing; she had pointed it out only hours earlier. And yet here she was, trying so hard to get past it all. Everything he felt was the same. The coiled tension of desire still built up in him. The wave of heat spreading through his phantom limbs at the anticipation of making love to her burned as though he was still made of flesh. Everything was there – except the ability to do anything about it. And that made that sweet longing something unbearable instead.

Finally she did stop, gazing down at him from a nose away with an expression he couldn't identify. What was he seeing? Sadness. Longing. Resignation? Her fingertips touching him tenderly, with as much affection as she had ever done, closely traced the face he'd created to be with her again.

_I still have him. No matter what form he's in. He's here, and he's still mine. I don't care if the outside is just an image. _Seeing Bernard had clearly illuminated what was most important. _As long as I have Megs' mind, I have him._ She kissed him again gently and felt his arms hold her closer as his lips sought hers slowly. _Not just his mind. His heart too._ It was suddenly clear how important that was - to know he could still desire her. That he hadn't been preserved as cold, analytical intelligence, sustained in a computer with nothing to offer but the mass of his knowledge. _But what if… as time passes, and he has no outlet for his feelings… What if he gives up? Lets himself become emotionally cold too?_ _God, please don't let that happen. But how could I blame him? He's trapped in there. _She knew what he felt because she felt it too, frustrated by the sting of futility. If only… if only their longing was enough to bring him back… make him real again. But they both knew what they had and had to be thankful for… and couldn't have.

Finally he pulled away from her, reluctantly, eyes closed and teeth clenched against the intensity of his reactions. "What I wouldn't give for a body."

She caressed both hands down the sides of his face with a sad smile, knowing he was lamenting what was lacking as much as she was, probably more. He was a man after all, and his devotion and pursuit of her had been the denouement of years of waiting. As she settled onto his lap and snuggled under his chin, determined to put the brakes on for both their sakes, she thought again of the empty shell of the man in the hospital bed and hugged her husband a little tighter. Given a choice, she'd chose to preserve his mind over his body any day. "This is enough. Just like you said."

_But it's not. _He frowned to himself as she settled against him, curling up like a kitten in his arms. "Roxanne… I can still satisfy you," he offered.

"… oh, Megs… I know you can." Pressing her face against his cheek, she kissed the edge of his mouth. "But I'd feel so guilty. There's nothing for you."

He turned to capture her mouth briefly, brushing his fingers through her hair and resting his hand near one pale ear. "Not nothing. You don't know how much I enjoy pleasing you." His eyes pleaded with her. "I want to make you happy."

She felt the pull of temptation, anticipation of him touching her again making her chest hot. With a kiss to her nose, his hand at her ear slowly descended down her neck and along her body. She felt the blue fingers slowly following the shape of her curves, felt her chest rise and fall faster. Biting her lip, she closed her eyes and savored the lingering slide of his hand around the swell of her hip and down her thigh, heard him breathe, "…please?"

But as his hand found the gap between her blouse and her jeans, she tensed as the thought of those nimble blue fingers was suddenly replaced by the image of cold metal digits gliding along her bare skin. _Don't think of him that way_. Too late. The yearning that had been breaking down her reluctance began to recoil from the thought of making love to a machine… even one that sheltered the man she could not do without. "Megamind…" She didn't know how to tell him, didn't want to hurt him. Brushing her lips along his cheek, she offered a gentle consolation, felt his lips find hers and draw her into one last passionate kiss before giving up. "I can't…"

"It's ok." He had sensed her pull away again. Looking down at himself, seeing his arms and his legs and thinking of what was underneath... _I can't blame her_. He rested his chin on her head and looked out the window, the faint reflection in the glass looking back at him. Flesh and bones that were a lie. Was that all he could offer her? "I'm sorry, Roxanne." A tickle at his neck told him the tears were flowing again, and the ache in his heart deepened until he thought he would break down as well. "I'm sorry."

"No… I couldn't live without you. Don't be sorry."

The whispered words only tore at him more as he looked at his reflection again, imagined himself without the disguise, holding her. Was that the way she saw him, he wondered with a twinge of self-loathing, The nanobrain and mecha suit had seemed like a huge step forward at first, but now… it wasn't enough._ And there is more I can do. But should I?_

* * *

><p>Minion and the man who again looked like Wayne Scott stood silently looking down on Bernard's still form, still tied to this world by the electrical impulses of computers and machinery, and suddenly Megamind was struck by the thought that he was much the same. He had no involuntary functions left either. Only a collection of circuits and sensors for a body. It was a wonder that Roxanne would consent to touch him at all or Jack to sit on his lap to hear stories.<p>

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Minion asked, interrupting his musings.

"Yes." He was surer now than ever. The thought of continuing on in his present form was becoming more unacceptable all the time.

The doctor looked at them quizzically and watched as Minion raised the glowing gun and dehydrated the man who had once been Bernard Brown. The machines began to beep frantically, detecting his sudden absence, and the doctor unemotionally turned them off until the room was quiet again.

Picking up the blue cube from the bed, Megamind looked at it gravely before enclosing it in his hand and turning to the curious physician. "Thanks for your help."

"Uh, sure."

The lifelong friends walked out in companionable silence, but Megamind knew his sidekick. Knew his scales would be itching ask questions. When they reached the car and got in, Minion paused as he put the key in the ignition. "I really think you should tell her."

Minion always got to the heart of the matter. He didn't ask if he was sure it would work or even if they should do it at all, but his question struck at the core of what concerned Megamind most. "I've already asked so much of her. I don't want to worry her with this too when… we don't know." He paused with a scowl and turned to look at his fishy pal. "But think of what this could mean to us, Minion. This," he turned off the disguise and gestured to his mechanical conveyance. "This is hardly living. It isn't fair of me to ask her to be satisfied with a husband who," he shrugged, "who's hardly more than one of the brainbots."

Minion understood without being told the limitations inherent in the body they'd created. While Megamind was the one whose brilliance went off like a firework, hot and bright and demanding immediate action, the driving force of their team, Minion had always been the cold voice of reason, thinking ahead, pointing out possible complications. He'd foreseen the problems now manifest but hadn't quite been able to bring himself to address such intimate matters with his boss. Still, he had felt the mecha suit was an improvement for his friend over existing in a computer as saved data. But to make use of a human body? Especially Bernard's. "Sir… I just don't know."

"Well, you don't have to know. I've already decided." His thoughts drifted to the night before, watching his wife curled on her side sleeping. Little things, like the strap of her gown falling off her shoulder, were his undoing. Being so near her and still having to keep his distance… And holding little Jack on his lap as he read him a story, the boy had innocently declared him "too cold". He hadn't ever noticed before how much a simple thing like warmth shared between two bodies meant. "Yes. I've decided."

"All right," Minion answered. "But what if something goes wrong? Or what if she decides… what if she really can't-"

"Then we'll have this to go back to. We wouldn't even have to tell her we tried," he replied absentmindedly, already mentally consumed with planning out the necessary steps for the preparation of the neural net into a partially organic form.

"All right. But I don't want to have to be the bearer of bad news again," he complained before noticing his boss was not listening. "Sir?" Minion asked quietly. "If this does work, and then later… what about…"

Finally Megamind looked over at him, his face unreadable. "You've seen it."

Thinking of the darker secret they had hidden away below the Lair, Minion lost his nerve. "Of course. I just wasn't sure if…" He couldn't go on.

Megamind seemed to sit up straighter. "Let's go, Minion. Is the equipment prepared?"

"Everything's online and ready," he confirmed and murmured more uncertainly, "Just waiting for a body…"

* * *

><p>Roxanne could tell something had been bothering him ever since Bernard's death. Assuming at first that he was still dealing with the shock of it, it took her a day or two to realize he seemed distracted and uneasy with the kind of forced nonchalance that meant he was waiting to see if some new idea he was working on was going to pay off, trying to pretend that it didn't really matter if it succeeded or not when in reality he was terribly anxious for it to turn out well.<p>

_Maybe he's been working on the electrode cap._ After she'd pestered him to let her try again, they had made another attempt at virtual lovemaking. And although the experience was much like the first time, it unfortunately sent her into a deep sleep that he could not rouse her from for several hours, leaving her dazed and drained when she finally did wake, and leaving him deeply concerned about the safety of the device.

She had also watched him following the news with a kind of pent up frustration. That she understood better. After Titan's defeat, he had taken to his new role as Metro City's defender with an eagerness that betrayed the depth of loyalty he felt toward the city. He had loved the work, the danger and challenges. Having to sit on the sidelines now was eating at him, and yet he was still adamant that it was not the time to go public. Although at first she had wanted to tell everyone the good news, after thinking about it more, she had to agree with him. Showing up again would scandalize many, others would fear what they couldn't understand, still others remain disbelieving or even feel resentful, and finally some might demand access to the technology he had pioneered. There were so many complications and implications to revealing his survival, they were not sure it would ever be prudent for him to make a public return. And being the crowd pleaser that he was, it was contrary to his nature to live in hiding.

"I'm home!" she called, setting down a bag of groceries in the kitchen and directing the brainbots assisting her to put down a few more they were carrying. "Hello?" Minion appeared in the doorway, looking rather flustered, his metal fingers clasped in front of him. She glanced at him with a smile as she began lifting things from a bag and then noticed his wide eyes. "All right, what have you two been up to?"

"Um, well… we have been up to… something."

She smiled and resumed her task. "I kind of figured. He's been acting funny for the past few days, and you've barely been able to look me in the eye. So what is it?" She stopped short and turned to him uncertainly. "Is this about the… skin you mentioned before?" She wasn't sure how she felt about them developing an organic covering for the mechanical suit.

"Um… not quite."

"For pity's sake Minion, the way you're dancing around it, I'll be waiting out here for an eternity," a voice groused from outside the room.

"Megs? What's going on?" She looked toward the door and frowned as she saw him walk through it. "Megamind? Why Bernard again?" Seeing the watch, she assumed he was generating the old disguise. "I know it's been bothering you, but-"

"You're on your own," Minion muttered, leaving the room. He had the distinct impression the announcement was not going to go over as well as his boss expected. "I'll go run interference on Jack."

Megamind watched him go, beginning to feel a little uncertain himself. _Coward…_ "Roxanne," he began, reaching out slowly to take her hand, "it's not a disguise."

Confused, she looked from his green eyes to the tawny brown hair. Abruptly she realized he was wearing some of Megamind's own street clothes. _That's not right._ Then it registered that the hand she was holding was warm. "Oh my god…" Shocked, her mouth dropped open as she simultaneously pulled her hand away.

_That's not the reaction I was hoping for._ Worry lines furrowed his brow as his eyes searched hers. "Sweetheart-"

"Megs! What have you done?" She looked him up and down as she involuntarily took a step back against the counter. "Is this… is this really _Bernard_?" His name came out in a whisper as though she was afraid to say it too loudly.

"Yes. Yes, it is."

He could see her swallow hard, still staring, her breathing becoming more rapid. "But why? He was… he was…"

"Roxanne, he was gone, but he wasn't dead." He held out his hand to her, waiting for her to take it, but she didn't. His hand dropped away as he sadly acknowledged her horrified expression. "This was not a cadaver." Seeing her still in shock, he began to explain with a kind of hurried desperation. "He wanted to stay near us. Near you. And this is nothing much different than being an organ donor. But instead of one or even a few organs, he's donated everything. And I think he'd be very pleased to know that this is how his body is being used. Better than being dehydrated!"

She was listening, trying to take it in, trying to overcome her natural reaction to seeing her husband reanimating the body of someone she had thought of as deceased. "Now he really is you… yeah, ok." She thought of how much Bernard had identified with Megamind as she looked him over carefully, noting details like the fact that he still wore the disguise generating watch. "But… your eyes are green."

He held up his wrist with a wry smile, knowing she had already spotted it. "Partial projection, yes. And the voice," he added. "In order to be mine. It's doing that too. But nothing else."

She could imagine Megamind speaking in Bernard's voice. He had sometimes mimicked the man behind his back to make her laugh, copying the condescending way he spoke. Once after a party at the museum, he had made her laugh so hard, teasing and flirting with her using Bernard's dry, nasally tone, keeping her giggling even as they playfully made love. But now he really had the vocal chords of the man they'd privately laughed at. Now he needed a device to _not_ sound like him. Eyes wide, she stared, trying not to remember the sight of him lying in a hospital bed. And the bag… "Oh, Megs," she breathed again.

"Roxanne," he pleaded, trying to hold back from reaching out to her again, disturbed by not having foreseen her intense reaction. "Please listen. I wanted to do this for us. For you, so you'd have a real husband again, not some machine. It's still me."

She saw the worry in his eyes, the fear of being rejected._ He's trying. He's taking so many chances._ "Are you… do you still have to use the nanonet?"

"Er, yes. Partially."

"How does it work?" Seeing him hesitate, she added, "I need to know. The more I know and understand, the less… unreal this seems. And the more I can accept… you this way."

"Ok," he agreed, nodding slightly, glad she was trying to take a logical approach to it. "A human brain isn't quite big enough for me." Despite the hypoxia, they had discovered that the majority of Bernard's grey matter was still viable, but even the full complement of cells would not have been adequate.

"Huh! Hardly surprising," Roxanne murmured, trying to relax as she realized she was still leaning away from him, back against the cabinets.

"No, and so we've used the nanobrain in conjunction with the living brain, linking them like two computers." He put a hand to the back of his head, finding the sensation of hair under his fingers still slightly startling. "There's a small incision here, where we inserted it just under the scalp."

Trying to imagine them dealing with Bernard's body, doing things to it she didn't want to imagine, transferring him into it somehow. "Megs… I… I don't know what to think." Her voice cracked under the weight of her emotions.

He slumped miserably at seeing the tears in her eyes. "Please," he reached down and took her hand, feeling her hesitation as she searched his face. "Please just…come here." He gently coaxed her nearer, putting one arm around her, then two, holding her close. She closed her eyes at the sight of being so near the unfamiliar body, but she smelled the scent of the soap he used, her fingers recognized the fabric of his clothes, she heard his voice, a low hum pleading in her ear, and her memories were stirred even before he said, "Rox, think of when we dated. Remember me that way. You loved me as Bernard then, and… I'm still here, sweetheart."

The heat of his skin began to warm her cheek. _He's warm_. She turned her head to put her ear at his lips, feeling the breath from his nose, abruptly aware of his chest softly rising and falling too. _He's alive. He has a body now. How much must that mean to him? _Hadn't she guessed how hard it must be residing in that metal prison?_ How can I begrudge him wanting to do this?_ Slowly she pulled back to look at him again, taking in the pale human skin, and the tentative curve of a smile at the corner of his lips no longer blue. _No more blue skin. No more... him, the way he should be._

T_his isn't going to work. She's more repulsed by this than the machine._ He accepted the defeat of the idea with a heavy-hearted sigh. "It's too much, isn't it?" He shook his head, looking away from her. "Why do I not listen to Minion? He tried to tell me… tried to warn me that you-"

"No. No, I just…" _Too many apologies. Stop making him feel so guilty when he's trying so hard. Just like he always has._ He was right. It helped to think of the time they'd spent together, before she knew who he was. _I never thought I'd go back to that. Never wanted to._ Fighting tears, she said, "Do you… do you remember when we went to the park that day?"

A tiny smile lit his face, his eyes still full of concern. "Yes. Of course I do. You were laughing again... I loved hearing you laugh, and we held hands. I'd never touched your hands before." He lifted one of her hands in his. "I remember thinking they seemed sooo sensual. What a neophyte I was! And you hugged me for the first time too. Well," he added as an afterthought, "not counting that bear hug that shocked the hell out of me the day you found the Lair. You know…" he paused, remembering," I still can't _believe_ I didn't think to disguise the observatory on the roof."

There it was. His face – mouth drawn down at each corner, brows raised and drawn together, still incredulous after all this time at his uncharacteristic lapse in brilliance._ That's him. _Finally her reservations began to loosen their strangle hold on her emotions.

His thoughts were still far away. "Although, that day in the park, it really was more than a hug, wasn't it?" he coaxed her to admit her attraction to him. "I can remember just the way your perfume smelled too. Mmmm, it drove me crazy." A smug smile stole across his face. "Oh, I wanted to tell you who I was so much! But I was afraid you'd be mad, or… or that I'd scare you away. And I couldn't believe I had you there and could put my arms around you… finally." He looked at her. "I was so in love with you." Watching her reach to touch his new face, he assured her, "I still am."

She leaned forward, thinking of him as he was then, and kissed him softly, seeing his eyes light up with hopefulness. "That was what I wanted that day, you know. I kept trying to get you to kiss me." It had been so frustrating. She really couldn't understand why he held back when she had been doing her darnedest to make it obvious what she wanted. Flirting and creating opportunities and staring in his eyes. But just when she would catch him looking hungrily at her lips, he'd pull away again.

"I know! You nearly had me too. I certainly wanted to kiss you. And more." His eyebrows danced, making her smile. "But I'd promised myself not to. Not as him." Doubts clouded his features again. "But now… here I am asking you to accept me this way again." Uncertainly he suggested, "Maybe you could think of it as… picking up where we left off?"

His hesitation touched her heart, and she hugged him knowing it was just going to take time to get used to. "I really don't want to start over. And I understand how much it means to you to have a body again," she said against his shoulder. "But… you're going to have to be patient." Apologetically, she admitted, "I don't know how I'm going to get used to this. Or get over missing you… " _The way you were. The way I really want you to be._

Resting his forehead against hers, he conceded, "I know." _Maybe it is a mistake_, he worried again until the tentative brush of her lips against his again told him she wasn't completely against his efforts to regain his humanity. Alone in the kitchen they stood silently wrapped around each other, contemplating the step they were taking, thinking their own thoughts and hoping their own hopes.

The sound of small feet running down the hall roused Roxanne, her eyes opening as she looked toward the door. Jack's small form appeared and stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of them. "Jack, wait!" they heard Minion call.

Wide-eyed, the little boy looked from his mother to the cranky museum man who stood with her. Holding her closely. In their kitchen. Before they could say a word, his small black brows scrunched angrily and he stomped up to them on his tiny feet, fists clenched. "Don't - touch - my - MOM!"

"Jack!" Roxanne couldn't believe how much indignation her young son could muster.

"Whoa! Jack, it's ok!" Megamind relinquished his hold on her and dodged a kick to his shin. "Hey!"

Quickly Roxanne grabbed the boy's arm and pulled him out of swinging range of his father. _Oh boy. He understands the disguise generator, but this…_ They had only told him that Mr. Brown from the museum had died. _How are we going to explain this to him?_

"Jack be Nimble! It's me… your dad," Megamind squatted to down to his level, holding out his hand to him.

"You're not my dad!" Jack shouted back. "You're the crabby man!"

Megamind couldn't help but smile despite his concern. However he suddenly wondered if the situation might be beyond even his son's ability to comprehend at such a tender age. "Listen. Listen to my voice. Don't I sound like Megamind?"

Jack stopped struggling for a moment, a deeply skeptical expression on his face as he thought about it. His father quickly added, "And these are my eyes. Nobody has my green eyes." He pointed to them, and at once the boy spotted the device on his wrist.

His little face darkened in a rage. "You're cheating! That's Daddy's watch!"

Roxanne turned him around to face her. "Jack, listen to me. Remember how Daddy made a new body like Minion's for himself?" He didn't answer, but she could see him thinking about it. "He was cold in there. Remember you said he was cold?"

"Yeah," he agreed reluctantly, his eyes shifting uncomfortably. Why was his mother taking the side of this imposter? Why had she been hugging him the way she only hugged Daddy?

"Well… now he has a new body. This time a – a warm one." She cringed as soon as she said it, stumbling over the disturbing words, and Jack didn't seem to think much of it as an explanation either.

"But you said… you said Mr. Brown was dead."

She looked at him in silent horror, unable to go on. _What do I say to that?_

"Mr. Brown… gave us a gift," Megamind tried to explain, seeing his son turn back to him. "He gave me _his_ body to use now. So I'm a real person again. And even though I look different, I'm still your father."

Blankly, Jack looked at the man he barely knew smiling at him encouragingly. He stated flatly, "My daddy's blue." Roxanne's heart sank as he added, "_You'll_ never be my father!"


	6. Chapter 6

_If you want to avoid the M portion of the story, stop after he warns her about the spikes on the avatar down to the page break._

* * *

><p>Reclining in their bed with his fingers laced together behind his head, he listened to the water running in the bathroom along with the overly loud pounding of his heart. Glancing down at his pale bare chest, he could actually see the palpitations. <em>This is worse than our first time.<em> He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with air, acutely aware of the sensations of being in flesh again, breath and blood traveling through Bernard's body, after they'd been absent for a few weeks. _Don't get your hopes up. This has got to be very strange for her. She probably doesn't even want to think about sex yet._ Then he wondered… _maybe she'll be happy instead. _She had always seemed pleased with him, but he'd never managed to entirely shake off the deep-seated anxiety that had been instilled in him from childhood, mostly about how different he was from every other person on the planet and how he measured up to others, or didn't. The thought of Roxanne coming into the room and seeing him there, then readily moving toward the bed excited him but made him distinctly unhappy at the same time. Self-doubt was a wave of sobriety that also worked to cool his ardor. But then she was there, standing in the doorway.

She watched him slowly lower his arms from behind his head, looking a little uncertain but trying to smile at her. _I bet he's been having some of the same thoughts I've had._ "Well," she smiled at him gently, "I guess there's no point in pretending. This is kind of… weird."

The smile he gave her in return looked relieved. "No. No point in denying it." As she walked to the bed, his eyes roved over her as they always had. She had trusted him enough to wear the silky shift that he loved the texture of, and when she sat on the bed facing him, the way the swell of her breast pushed forward as she leaned on one arm drew his eyes like a magnet. _Why do I feel guilty looking at her? She's my wife. But here I am looking through someone else's eyes… and she's seeing me looking through someone else's eyes. _

She was watching him, easily reading his expression, wondering what he expected. "Megs-"

"Roxanne, there's no rush. I know this… I know this can't be easy."

"It's not," she agreed. "But, part of me certainly wants to be with you again." She reached to touch one of his hands lying on the coverlet, stroking down the back of his fingers before taking his hand in hers. "It's just…" Megamind's had been more slender, longer, fascinatingly dexterous. Bernard's hands were… human. She let his fingers slip from hers.

From there her eyes and her hand moved to his chest, drifting over the sparse hair springing from the pale, wide expanse of skin, her heart crying out for the smooth blue chest where she used to rest her head. Her gaze traveled further… _no goatee, _she thought drawing a finger down his chin as he watched her silently. _Of course_._ I wonder how Bernard would look with a goatee… they both have those slender lips… funny about the nose too_... Ignoring her aching heart, she determinedly blessed their similarities as she met the green eyes still generated by the watch he wore, mirroring her sadly pensive expression. _But there he is. That's my Megamind_. For a moment they gazed at each other silently as she thought about what he'd said before, how he'd tried so hard to hold back in his disguise while they dated. Then she leaned toward him for a warm, lingering kiss that left him burning. "So, why did you kiss me at the restaurant that night?"

The longing in his eyes reminded her of how he'd looked just before she'd leaned toward him over that little table. "I just couldn't stand it anymore. I'd been holding back sooo _long_!" he groaned.

With a laugh at his usual dramatics, she reminded him, "We'd been dating less than two weeks."

The green eyes shifted sideways. "I know… but I wanted to kiss you before that."

Chuckling, she pulled back the blankets and got into bed at his side. They scooted lower under the covers, settling close together, finding the most comfortable way to fit together. With her head on his shoulder, she put her arms around him with a sigh. _What if his disguise hadn't failed that night? We still couldn't have slept together. Can't unclothe an avatar. But I sure as hell would have made out with him. _

Bernard's body wasn't as slender as Megamind's incredible physique had been, but they were similarly built at least. As she smiled at being close to him again – warm and breathing, hands gently moving over her as they lay silently - she wondered what it felt like to him to be occupying someone else's body. _Poor guy_. Slowly, little things began to assail her senses. Rubbing her nose along his neck the way she always used to, she could smell the scent of unfamiliar skin under the shower gel that was still his favorite. The feeling of his body under her hands and against her cheek… her mind began to protest. _Megs was so fit_. _And Bernard was just a curator. I'm sure he never worked out. Of course he won't feel the same._

She fought to ignore her growing uneasiness with the sensations that were just not right. Forced herself to look at his chest as she stroked it gently with her fingertips. Tried not to miss the sight of the blue hue she'd come to absolutely love under her hands contrasting with her own pale skin. She resisted tracing the outlines of the muscles down his arms the way she used to, appreciating the extreme definition that was not there anymore. Her senses told her she was touching a stranger, and her heart protested that this naked body was not the one she should be lying next to, decrying her as unfaithful for feeling aroused at all. _But it's him_, she told herself. _It is him_.

Unaware of her growing discomfort, Megamind was entirely caught up in having her so near again in their bed. His new body's response was as undeniable and uncontrollable as his old body's would have been. He knew she was bound to notice. _Well. At least he works. Just… reign it in for now. Yeah, right_, he thought as he buried his nose in her hair. _Stop wanting her. That's all. Back to the beginning. _

"Megamind?"

The uncertainty in her voice registered immediately, sobering him. "Yes, sweetheart."

Her slightly panicked feeling abated a little at the sound of his voice_. Get a grip, Roxanne_. "Turn out the light, please," she requested. "And just… talk to me."

He reached for the lamp, and with a click relieved one of her senses of its distress. "What shall we talk about, my love?"

"Anything. I just want to hear your voice."

"Did I tell you I tried turning on the disguise gen to go say goodnight to Jack as myself before he went to bed?"

"Oh my. I can almost imagine how that went."

"Yeah. About like that. He wasn't happy. Wouldn't even look at me." Roxanne felt his chest rise and fall as he sighed unhappily in the dark. "I never thought I'd say he's too smart for his own good, but…"

"We can't fool him now that he knows. But at the same time, he doesn't have the ability to comprehend this situation or know how to control his feelings. He's still a child. Hardly more than a baby. And he misses his dad. "

"But I'm here," he feebly protested, hardly feeling conviction in his own words. _Aren't I? _

He sounded so disheartened her heart ached for him and tears prickled at her eyes. _Show him you know he is. Show him it's ok. He needs to be loved now as much as he ever did. _"We'll get through it. Jack will adjust too. It'll just take time." She reached up and put a hand to the back of his neck, pulling him toward her to kiss. The feeling of hair under her fingers was startling, but their mouths found each other as easily as they ever had and the way he kissed was unmistakably him to her relief. Tempted to move her hand away, she forced herself to gently feel the tawny tresses between her fingers. He sensed what she was doing and broke from her kiss. "Hair, huh?"

Roxanne huffed in amusement. "Yeah. That's going to take some getting used to." She tentatively ran her fingertips again through the short hairs just along his neckline.

He silently waited for her reaction, but she said nothing and neither did he sense her pulling him closer for another kiss. "I thought maybe you'd like it… after a few years of my profound baldness."

"Megs." Leaning her head against his lips, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "I loved your profound baldness." Hugging him closer, she lifted her lips to his for another kiss. "After all this time, you still doubted that? I miss… I miss the way you were so much." She hated to say it and hurt him when he'd tried so hard – doing this to please both of them – but it was too true to ignore.

"Well, who could blame you for wanting to be with someone human? I didn't really want to think you were just putting up with me, as alien as I was, but I thought if that had to be the case I was certainly glad you did."

_He finds it so hard to believe, even now… maybe it's time to tell him everything_. "Ok then. You want the whole truth?" She sighed. "There was a time – right after Hal and when Bernard showed up in the wash. We'd only just started connecting, and we hadn't slept together yet, and I'll admit it… I wasn't sure how I felt about… you being so different. I mean, I knew I was very attracted to you, but I guess I... I don't know! I was stupid! Thinking it might matter that we were from different planets and everything."

Megamind listened carefully. He'd often wondered if she'd had such thoughts, and here she was finally admitting it. He wanted to know and didn't at the same time. But what she said next would help him decide what course to take in the near future even though she didn't know that.

"And when Bernard showed up again… I was kind of afraid seeing him would make me wish you were that way again. That I'd wish you looked human after all. But I'll tell you," now that her eyes had adjusted to the dark, she looked up into his as he lay listening to her solemnly. "I knew as soon as I saw him that I could never prefer you that way. I remember looking at him and looking at you… It was clear from that point on. And I just fell more and more in love with you, just the way you were. Nobody could compare. And I never questioned again whether I'd rather be with someone human. Not once."

He swallowed, feeling the loss as much as ever. "Bald head and all, huh?"

She smiled and closed her eyes, letting her nose rub along his cheek, imagining. "Bald head and big green eyes and blue skin…" Now she kissed him gently. "Could you… just turn it on for a little while?"

Giving no answer but a twist of the watch he still wore, she suddenly saw the form of the man she loved appear just the way she had loved him best, never wanting anyone else. With unchecked enthusiasm, she suddenly hugged him close and began kissing every feature, every bit of exposed skin.

He held back from squeezing her too tightly although her lips on his skin and her hands roving over him hungrily were making it very difficult. "Roxanne… the spikes." The avatar sported his gloves and suit, mantle and cape, even the boots.

"God, Megamind, I don't care… please…" She pulled him over onto her as her mouth slipped down his neck and slowly worked back up with soft, sucking bites at his skin.

He gritted his teeth against the intense desire he felt nearly overwhelmed by, aware of how much of his outfit was not suitable for this contact with her – the studded belt pressed into her hips wasn't sharp but had to be uncomfortable while the spikes on his gloves were pointed enough to leaves marks. "I don't want to hurt you." _Even though I want you so much right now it's making me ache._

But Roxanne had already wrapped her legs around him, drawing their hips firmly together as she often did, and running her hands down his back. She grabbed at the firm derriere she had been happy to claim as all hers and pulled him against her even harder. Her breathing in his ear was loud and shaky, halfway between tears and passion. "…please. It hurts so much more to not have you like this."

He couldn't hold back – not from her request and not from his own need to be with her again – and finally gave up trying. He covered her mouth with his, feeling her trembling hands reach up to stroke over his ears and up and down the back of his bare neck and head. Bernard's ears weren't sensitive like his own had been, and although he missed that thrilling sensation, at the moment experiencing her willing passion and his own frantic desire to touch and kiss every bit of her body overshadowed it.

He broke from her kiss to run his mouth along her shoulder, her smooth skin only interrupted by the thin strap of her shift. So many times he'd made the same gesture and never grew tired of the feeling of her skin there. Her lips never left his head, her hands roaming over his back under the cape, clutching at him desperately. She gave a load moan as he rubbed his nose and mouth back up along her neck, slowly thrusting his hips into her at the same time. "Megs!" He felt her hands pull at the fabric over his back as though she wanted to rip it off. But that wasn't possible.

He sat back and undressed her, tossing aside her few clothes. Then he bent to rub his face along her torso, savoring her skin with his tongue and lips and teeth as he slowly moved upward over her until his entire body was in contact with hers again and she could wrap herself around him as closely as she wanted. And she did, holding his fully clothed image against her bare skin as tight as possible as they kissed again.

Roxanne found the presence of his suit exciting and frustrating at the same time. She had always loved the way it fit him like a glove, showing off his fit body, and there had been times she'd wanted to ask him to at least keep parts of it on in the bedroom, but she hadn't had the nerve to ask, and he'd always shed everything rather quickly along with her. He looked good without anything on too, so it wasn't very disappointing. But now when she wanted him to take it off, he couldn't. That didn't stop him or her from pressing themselves into each other as though nothing was in the way, their tongues imaging what the rest of their bodies couldn't do.

One gloved hand traveled down her side, following the smooth bucking movement of her hips over and over against him, then sliding behind her to caress around the full curve of that well-padded rear he couldn't resist... then down further until his fingers could slide between her thighs… smoothly penetrating… He listened to her reaction as she broke from his kiss, reassured she was willing at last, continuing to please her with an experienced hand. Roxanne clutched at him as she arched her body against his and the delicious tension he was able to quickly build in her.

Sliding down her a little, he heard her cry out as his mouth found her breast, his tongue teasing at her as skillfully as his fingers were. "God! Megamind…!"

He stopped to ride up and kiss her once more, then whisper in her ear, "Let me-"

"Yes!" she practically shouted before he could finish his request. So with another lingering kiss, he slid down her body the rest of the way and finished what he'd started, finding the sound of her calling his name so much more fulfilling than the experience of the electrode cap had been, it couldn't even begin to compare.

When she finally lay spent, he moved up over her, kissing her lips lightly as she tried to catch her breath again. Then he felt her reaching along his arm, patting down over the leather and metal until she found the watch. "Turn it off..."

He guessed what she meant but murmured, "Roxanne. I don't think you're ready for-"

"Turn it off," she whispered hoarsely, fumbling for the dial herself, _before I change my mind. I need you, and you need this. _She didn't want him to wait for her to be ready because she didn't know when that would be. She would make herself be ready now. For his sake. As the disguise faded away, she kissed him again, saw him caught between being himself and Bernard just before she closed her eyes.

Trying to hold back to allow her to get used to the feeling as well as the idea of someone else's body, he felt his uncertainty fade as Roxanne's sweet searching kisses became more and more insistent and her gently caressing hands moved all the way down his bare back, giving him permission, encouraging him, inflaming him uncontrollably. Impatient as he was to have her, he listened carefully for any sign that she might want him to stop.

She knew he would feel different, and her brain kept betraying the truth of whose body was there with her, but Roxanne concentrated on the sound of his voice, his breathing, recognizing in the familiar ways he moved and touched her the man she loved so much. And yet she just couldn't open her eyes, didn't want to see Bernard. She held onto him tightly, keeping her hands away from his head and her lips on his bare skin, not wanting to touch the hair that played traitor to her imagination doing its damndest to think of him the way he was.

She almost felt guilty being pleased by him now, but she was nonetheless. They were both young and had always been an active couple, always hungry for each other. Being with him without physical satisfaction had left her libido demanding release, so she knew that physiologically she was well primed for this. Still she felt guilty that she could she find this foreign person satisfying when her heart wanted him back the way he was so desperately. But it wasn't only the sensations he gave her, she realized. It was hearing him finding pleasure in her again and knowing he was really there, his voice, his endearments, his caresses...

* * *

><p>It was all over far too quickly for his liking, and he said as much as they held each other afterward.<p>

"At least he works," she mentioned, echoing his earlier thoughts. "We didn't know much of anything about Bernard's life, much less his love life. But, um, with his personality I can't imagine he was seeing much action."

"We did check him for health issues at least."

She hadn't thought of that and was suddenly very glad he had. "Maybe he wasn't… experienced."

Megamind couldn't help rolling his eyes. "Geesh. That'd be my luck. I've already dealt with that once with you," he groused, making her laugh. _If that explains his lack of lasting power though, I can work on that._ "And there's something else."

"Really, what?" She was glad neither of them were uncomfortable speaking frankly about sex because talking about it seemed to be helping her deal with the emotional discomfort of the situation. And she was actually curious about what the experience was like for him.

"Well… assuming Bernard's typical, I think I have to feel somewhat sorry for human men. That climax was hardly a blip on the radar compared to what I'm used to. Not that I think it has anything to do with you," he assured her quickly. "You're just as wonderful as I remember." He gave her a little squeeze with a sigh of happiness. "And it was still far better than the cap."

Poor guy. Being Bernard was not going to be the end of all of his problems at all. "You know, I have a feeling you experience nearly everything in life more vividly than the rest of us." She'd seen his highs and his rare lows and knew he lived life to the hilt. "Megs… can I have you back again?" she asked in a small voice. She knew she would have to get used to this eventually. It was hardly fair to him, seemed wrong to ask him to resume the disguise, but just as she had asked Minion to take Megamind's form even though she knew she shouldn't, she now heard the request pop out of her mouth almost involuntarily. "I know I shouldn't…" she began to apologize.

He turned the dial readily. "It's all right, Roxanne." And there he was again, himself fully dressed. "You can have whatever you want, as long as you want."

She snuggled in closer to him with a sigh of contentment. "Honey, have you ever tried to make an avatar from scratch? Without having to scan someone?"

_Project myself unclothed… if only._ "We've tried. And in fact, we've created what we thought were very convincing likenesses. Much finer in detail than any other generated renderings Minion and I have seen." He paused. "But we discovered something rather extraordinary. The human brain has an uncanny ability to detect a fake. No matter how true to life it is, no matter how convincing we managed to make it, down to the minutest details. We'd take the avatars out in public and soon notice that at least one person after more than passing contact would recognize the deception. You could see it on their face. They just knew, somehow, without even being able to pin it down, that something wasn't right. No matter how many times we went back to the computer and tried again, no matter how precise we were, it was always the same. In fact it seemed to get worse, the better we made them."

"Well, I'd know it was you."

He paused thoughtfully. "Have you ever heard of the Uncanny Valley, Roxanne?"

"No," she admitted. "Should I have?"

"No, you probably wouldn't. It's a not very well known psychological phenomenon that's been observed by scientists doing just what I've done, creating alternative and artificial life forms."

"You're not an artificial life form though, Megamind. It's just a disguise, and you're real."

"I know. But the effect is the same. It's much like I was explaining. The human mind has the ability to spot a fake with great precision. Now think of the quality of avatars as being plotted on a line graph. The closer the rendering is to being human and life-like, the higher the curve. But oddly, at the peak of the curve, just when you'd think the ability to fool the mind would be reached… there's the Uncanny Valley. A huge dip that represents where the avatar is so good, you're just sure the mind would be convinced to accept it, but instead there's instantaneous recognition of the deception and associated with that is a high level of repugnance and avoidance. No one is sure why. It's not cultural or learned. Apparently it's something the brain is programmed by nature or collective memory to do." He shrugged slightly, even his gigantic intelligence confounded by the phenomenon.

"So you're saying that the more realistic you made your image for me, the more likely I'd be to reject it?"

"Yes," he agreed. "Unfortunately. And it's unconscious, not something you can control." He pulled back to look at her, eyes wide and adjusted to the dark. "And I don't want to ask any more of you, Roxanne. You've been… just amazingly wonderful. Accepted so much. I know I'm not always good at thinking ahead and considering the implications of what I'm doing, and I'm sorry for the distress I've caused you this far..." he kissed her softly. "And I don't want to do that any more. This is one thing I'm already aware of and which I intend to avoid putting you through." Running his fingers gently through her tousled hair, he added, "I couldn't stand having you find me – in my real form – repugnant."

He'd always been unsure of his appearance, even back when he'd titled himself 'incredibly handsome'. Everything he said she understood. So much so that she couldn't disagree with him, no matter how much she would have preferred to make love to his fit blue body instead of Bernard's. But especially considering the last fear he'd confessed, she decided she would simply have to drop her idea of asking him to create such a thing and deal with what they had now as best she could.

Suddenly she sat bolt upright. "Oh my gosh."

Startled, he asked, "What? What is it?"

Turning to look at him, she admitted, "I stopped taking the Pill when… a couple weeks ago."

"Oh," he answered blankly.

She could see he wasn't grasping the implications of it all. "Megs… I don't want to have Bernard's children."

Quickly his mind caught up, and his eyes widened. "Ooh…"

Although he was really present there now, and in making love to this body she was really making love to him in it, if she should happen to conceive, it would be solely Bernard's genetic material that would be passed on. The children they made together now would truly be his and not from Megamind at all. "Ok. We'll… we'll deal with that. Don't worry." He put his arms back around her and his head on hers when she laid down again, still processing the implications and limitations of it all.

What were the chances that tonight…? But worse was the thought that she would never carry _his_ babies again. They hadn't talked about it, but she had hoped for more. "I guess Jack will be an only child." He could hear the disappointment in her voice

"Well… not necessarily." He wondered what her reaction might be to this train of thought. "I still have samples of my DNA around. There are ways."

Roxanne didn't want to think too far into how it might happen, but she felt a sense of relief at the opening of the door again, the possibility. She felt herself relax and smiled with a sigh. "That's good to know. For later."

Snuggling her close, he couldn't imagine how he could be more lucky, more blessed, than to be with this woman who loved him and the alien body he'd been born with best and actually wanted to have children with again. Jack's pregnancy hadn't been easy on her, but still she wanted there to be a chance that they might have more little blue babies. His and no one else's. That assurance spread throughout him like a wave of warmth he could physically feel - an incredible wave of love and pride, security and happiness that he had never experienced with anyone else. He felt such a sense of gratitude for her love, her acceptance, he was overwhelmed for a moment. All he could do was hold her tight and hope he never let her down. Especially with the possibility that lay ahead of them yet, unbeknownst to her.


End file.
